


Coveted

by OptimisticBeth



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Kylo Ren, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Brief Gore, Come Eating, Come Marking, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Omega Rey, Pushy Men, Rough Sex, Sexually Threatening Situations, Unwanted Advances, Werewolf-typical nudity, Werewolves, werewolf-typical violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 14:12:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 64,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18852685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticBeth/pseuds/OptimisticBeth
Summary: Rey has never wanted nor needed a mate. So when it gets out that her new Pack Leader, Ben, is determined to claim her, she’s horrified to find that not only does she have to fendhimoff but all the strange alphas who come sniffing around.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A thing I started a few weeks back. Lots of different sources of inspiration.
> 
>  **Warning:** My tolerance for dubcon is high, and I personally think the sex in this story happens with consent, but I’m not going to presume that my interpretation is going to be yours.
> 
> (Story isn't finished, so warnings may change. I'll post at the tops of chapters if they do.)
> 
> \-----------
> 
>  **ABO (Alpha/Beta/Omega):** In case some of you are unfamiliar with the trope of ABO, it started in the Supernatural fandom years ago and morphed into a behemoth that spanned all fandoms. Details and intensity vary per writer, per story, but these things are typical of the trope: Alphas are physically, emotionally, and sexually dominant and usually have some sort of knot to tie them to their partner; Omegas are physically, emotionally, and sexually submissive and produce lots of slick; Betas are your basic ordinary people with no weird sex stuff. Pheromones are a thing; heat and rut are often featured; there's usually a lot of sniffing; any gender can be any of the three designations. ABO is a bit animalistic, very sexual, considered somewhat dubcon, lends itself well to dystopian fiction, and has dynamics that are interesting to play with and subvert.

Rey’s claws dug into the grass and brush, flinging her forward ahead of her pack. Or, rather, ahead of the new alpha who’d fought for and won control of the pack that very night, under the full moon.

It was an old tradition they were engaging in now. It had once been the right of every pack leader and had come back into fashion in the past few years despite all common sense.

 _Luna Venari._  Moon Hunt.

The ritual capture of a mate.

It was barbaric, really, and had only been used by established couples in Rey’s pack for private mating ceremonies. She heard that the adrenaline of the chase made the claiming bite more intense.

But she never in a million years would have thought her pack would let a stranger hunt her like this.

Rey didn’t even know _why_ he was after her. The other two omegas, Korrie and Kaydel, were much easier prey, and both of them actually _wanted_ a mate.

Maybe the new pack leader was torturing her because she’d growled at him when he’d sniffed her. He’d been allowed to get each omega’s scent before the chase, but he hadn’t been allowed to touch them at that point. It didn’t stop him, though. When he’d sniffed Rey, he’d sneezed, shook his shaggy black head, and then stuck his muzzle into the fur of her neck, causing her to jerk away and bare her teeth with a low growl.

The guards had pushed between them, making sure everyone behaved, but she’d seen the way the new pack leader had cocked his head and stepped back, eyes fixed on her.

Well. Joke was on him. He was going to make it to sunrise without a mate unless he decided to go back to claim one of the others — but she suspected he was too proud to give up once he’d set his sights on specific prey.

Rey had multiple advantages, the greatest of which was her knowledge of the terrain. No one was allowed to help the new pack leader in his pursuit, so Rey could use all her tricks to preserve her energy. Even though he was injured from the fight for dominance with the old pack leader, Taslin Brance, Rey refused to underestimate him. She had to assume that he had exactly as much stamina as he’d need to get to sunrise.

Rey didn’t want a mate, especially a stranger, but what made her blood truly run cold was the possibility that he might try to have sex with her in wolf form. It used to be done in the past but became taboo a few hundred of years ago. _Now_ , it had resurged among wolves who considered themselves edgy.

Rey was not edgy.

She wasn’t traditional, either.

She led a simple, uncomplicated life. Hungry? Go to the grocery store (human) or catch a rabbit (wolf). Lonely? Spend time with friends (human) or run with the pack (wolf). Horny? She could use a vibrator for the normal everyday horny, but… well, omega _heats_ were the bane of her existence. Rey usually spent her heats at home, but the pack had a soundproofed bunker with food and water out near the pack cabin, set aside for full moon heats. The soundproofing was particularly important, as the howls of an omega wolf in heat could be heard for miles, and any unmated alpha would claw their paws bloody trying to get through the reinforced steel door.

It was for everyone’s safety, really.

But this wasn’t her heat, and she could smell the blood on the new pack leader’s fur. The scent came from behind her; she wouldn’t put it past him to lay a false scent trail, so Rey zigzagged, varying her direction and trying to confuse him.

By the time the sky started to lighten, Rey found herself flagging. She didn’t know if he was still going strong or feeling the fatigue as well, but she didn’t dare assume. She’d caught glimpses of him here and there, especially early on when her head start had been minimal. A big shaggy beast as dark as the shadows between trees.

She was so attuned to his scent that she missed the _other_ , more dangerous scent, which was why she was in the middle of the clearing, racing toward the moose before she noticed it among the dew-laced grass.

And it _clearly_ noticed her. It held its antlers down in a charge position.

 _Fuck fuck fuck._ Rey dug all four paws’ worth of claws into the soil and changed direction, glad for her lightweight build. It would be a difficult maneuver for someone heavy like…

Shit.

Rey darted toward the trees, hearing the moose’s hooves pounding after her, and changed direction again, her skin tight with the anticipation of antlers scraping across her back. She didn’t want to be mated, but she also didn’t want to get the poor idiot killed. She’d once heard moose called serial killers. An elderly wolf had been warning the juveniles how a moose would stomp you to a pulp and come back if it didn’t finish the job the first time, and how he’d rather encounter a grizzly any day.

But if Rey could warn the alpha before he reached the clearing… or maybe she could draw him away. Yes, good plan. Lead the alpha away.

A wild snarl tore through the clearing, causing the moose’s thundering hooves to slow. Rey took advantage of the distraction to leap among the trees, losing herself among the shadows, then circled around to make sure the alpha had done the same.

He hadn’t.

The idiot was squaring off against the moose, and Rey felt a trickle of fear for him.

Didn’t he know how dangerous that was? Didn’t he know to run?

The alpha snarled again, growling with his ears back as if he wouldn’t be happy until he could tear the moose’s throat out.

Rey narrowed her eyes at the scene, calculating.

No way he’d survive.

Not without help.

Rey sighed mentally. She couldn’t leave him to die.

Quick and silent, she raced across the clearing and bit the creature’s back leg, hoping to sever the tendons. She didn’t stop, just hit it and ran to the trees directly in front of her as the creature whipped its head back and tried to change directions.

Safe among the trees, Rey licked blood off her teeth and checked the clearing again, finding that the alpha had taken advantage of the distraction she’d provided to claw a section of the animal’s hide before darting away to square off again. She could smell the animal’s blood and wondered how deep the wounds went.

Not deep enough, she decided. It was still standing.

But it had its back to her, so she crept through the brush and raced to tear at the other back leg, not stopping for an instant as she got out of its way. She heard a snarl, a grunt, and the thud of massive hooves.

Rey licked fresh blood off her teeth and looked again from the relative safety of the treeline.

The alpha was harrying it now. The moose favored one of its back legs, but Rey knew it was still dangerous, and the alpha looked tired.

Her fault. She’d worn him out, leading him all over the forest as she had.

 _No._ His fault for not letting her go.

Still.

Rey gathered herself for another hit-and-retreat, but this time when she struck, the moose kicked out his bad back leg. Rey yelped as its huge hoof glanced off her hip.

Fuck. That would slow her down. She’d heal in a few minutes, but the alpha didn’t _have_ a few minutes if he kept going at this thing.

Rey geared up for another attack, but she stumbled exiting the trees, her hip more injured than she’d realized, and the moose swung its head around and chose to charge _her_.

The alpha raced forward and sank his teeth into the moose’s haunch, snout wrinkled in fury, and the moose twisted to slash with his antlers, back legs kicking.

Stupid alpha. Stupid, _stupid_ alpha!

Rey leapt forward and sank everything she had into the exposed throat, clawing and clamping her jaws together to do as much damage as she could.

She couldn’t tell if the alpha had let go when the moose fell.

And rolled.

Rey _heard_ her ribs crack moments before the pain set in. The creature’s full weight wasn’t on her, but it was enough to make her vision go black around the edges.

She had to get away. She tore at its throat, desperate, and it started to get up. To stomp her, she realized. Terror rolled off of her, and she knew the alpha could smell it. She prayed he’d have sense enough to get away once she was dead.

Then… then the alpha was there, just across from her, and she watched him bite into the back of the creature’s neck, eyes wild as he fought to sever its spine and pull it away from her at the same time.

Rey heard the final crunch as his teeth met through bone, and the moose dropped a few feet away, now perfectly still.

The alpha’s breathing was labored, but she knew he could hear how hers wasn’t quite right.

She would heal. But she wouldn’t be able to move yet.

The alpha spared her a glance, then moved to stand over her, all of his attention on the moose as if it might get up and attack again.

Rey whimpered when he accidentally brushed against her, and his eyes snapped to her, his ears swiveled toward the moose as he assessed her injuries. A low growl started in his throat, and then he was on the corpse, tearing at its throat until it gaped open, a raw red wound in the growing light.

He laid a choice piece of flesh in front of her snout and nosed it forward, laying flat to the ground with his big brown eyes on her. He looked worried.

The meat was an offering. Traditionally, it would be the creature’s heart, but it would take him time to get through muscle and bone, and he didn’t seem to want to takes his eyes off her.

He pushed closer and Rey tensed and pulled away, setting off a flash of pain that made her wince and whine. He paused, stretched his neck carefully out, and licked her nose.

Rey kept a wary eye on him but didn’t move away when he only licked at the blood on her face, cleaning it. If he tried to claim her while she was injured, she’d put him out of his fucking misery, but this… this was nice. If she could be sure this was _all_ he would do, she could probably fall asleep. Her body would heal faster if she slept.

Her instincts made her want to clean his face as well, but she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. She didn’t eat the meat for the same reason. She wouldn’t until the ritual was well and truly over, when he couldn’t claim her without her consent.

So tired. She’d been running all night, and she _hurt_. Healing took energy, too.

Rey closed her eyes for a moment that stretched into long seconds, exhaustion threatening to drag her down. She knew she needed to stay alert, to fend him off, but she just didn’t have the strength anymore.

The alpha whined and nudged her snout with his.

Rey opened her eyes and looked at him without moving anything but her eyes. He was on his feet now and staring at her anxiously.

He whined and nudged her face again, and she instinctively gave his nose a reassuring lick.

That seemed to be some sort of signal, and he moved in. Rey tensed to whack him with a paw, but all he did was flop down as close as he could without jostling her bruised body, his head on his paws as he continued to stare at her face. Warmth radiated off of him, and he smelled nice under all the old and new blood. Comforting.

Rey’s muscles relaxed against her will, easing her into a light sleep.

\--

When Rey woke, the sun had risen and filtered down into the clearing. All of her pain had faded into a vague ache that would dissipate with food and rest.

She pushed carefully to her feet and noted that her mating gland hadn't been tampered with and no mystical bond seemed to have formed.

A shadow fell over her, and she dropped into a defensive stance, ready to rip into the threat, but it was only the alpha, his eyes searching hers before he began to nose around her ribs and flank, sniffing for wounds.

Rey whipped around and snapped her teeth a breath from his nose when he sniffed where he shouldn’t be sniffing, and he backed off guiltily. He trotted around her toward the moose with an apologetic lowering of his tail and returned with its heart to set it before her. He backed off again, watching intently to see if she’d eat it.

Rey growled mildly at him, warning him not to try anything, then ducked her head to rip into the heart, using her claws to hold it still. She was hungry and had earned this by helping to fell the beast.

Rey kept half her attention on the alpha, but he stayed where he was. When she finished and glanced suspiciously at him, he was staring at her. Rey held his gaze as she licked the blood from her mouth. Then, with a dismissive swish of her tail, she turned her back on him and began to trot back to the meeting place where the pack would have waited up.

She turned and snarled twice on the way back when the new alpha got too close and tried to sniff her hindquarters. He always backed off a foot or two but wouldn’t let her increase the distance between them.

When they got to the meeting place, he drew abreast so that she didn’t enter ahead of him. An alpha thing, she was sure. She chose to ignore him and head straight for her clothes. Her friends, Finn and Rose, joined her, screening her from prying eyes as her body blurred to human and she reached to pick up her shirt.

“How are you?” asked Finn.

Rey shrugged into the garment and picked up her shorts. “Feel like I got hit by a truck.”

“It was a moose,” came a low voice from several feet away. The rustle of cloth implied he was getting dressed as well, so Rey didn’t turn to look.

“Which wouldn’t have rolled on me if you hadn’t engaged it.”

“I saved your _life_ ,” he shot back, incredulous.

“No, you put my life — _and yours_ — in danger. I was already gone. You’re the one who couldn’t leave the damn thing alone.” Rey glanced back and realized everyone in the pack was subtly scenting the air.

“You’re not mated,” Rose whispered. She sounded shocked.

“She’s fast.” The new pack leader shrugged one shoulder carelessly, as if that settled the matter, and Rey caught her first sight of his human form. He was incredibly tall and broad, with awkwardly sharp features, a big nose, and silky black hair.

She wasn’t quite sure what to think. She stared a little longer than she meant to, and he caught her looking.

The eyes were the same, and she remembered how he’d looked at her after she’d been injured.

He just looked annoyed, now, though something flickered across the brown for a moment when their eyes met.

Rey turned away before she could begin to interpret that flicker. She tugged her shoes on, soft-soled tennis shoes she wore without socks in summer. “I won,” she said, not even having to raise her voice to know that the crowd’s sharp hearing would catch the words. “You lost. You get to leave me alone now.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

Rey turned to glare at him. “ _Excuse_ me?”

He stalked forward, no trace of the sweet puppy-eyed wolf from the clearing. “I don’t plan on leaving you alone.” He stopped just in front of her and bent his head. His whisper felt private, even though it wasn’t. “There are other ways to hunt prey.”

Rey held in her taunts and her fury, knowing it would only make things worse. You didn’t challenge an alpha in front of his pack, especially not an alpha who had yet to prove himself as pack leader and had already lost face.

She let her glare speak for her, then turned on her heel and motioned for her friends to follow her. They passed Korrie and Kaydel, and Rey gave them an awkward nod.

They nodded back, but they seemed confused. Rey supposed she could understand. A young, healthy alpha rejecting them didn’t make sense to her, either.

Korrie had light brown skin and a matching silky coat in her wolf form. It was so glossy that others teased her about entering a dog show.

“You’d win the werewolf category, for sure,” she’d heard Snap tell her one evening as his mate Karé settled lazily onto his knee.

“I don’t think they have a werewolf category,” Korrie had replied mildly, but Rey had gotten the impression that the teasing annoyed her.

“Well, no, but if they did. You’d win.”

Korrie had only pressed her lips together and hummed dismissively.

Blonde Kaydel was Brance’s daughter and considered a prize, politically speaking. Her position meant she interacted with the pack differently than Rey and Korrie. Kay was more playful and tussled more easily with the other wolves, even the alphas.

Kaydel had a sandy coat that was rougher than Korrie’s, almost coyote-yellow with darker brindling. She was small for a werewolf, and she preferred to stay close to her mother during hunts.

Rey’s coat was soft but not silky, a mix of browns with a speckled back. Like Korrie, she had long legs, lending both omegas an easy, loping gait that ate up the miles, but Rey had more wiry muscle on her frame and a narrower snout, her body streamlined for running.

The three of them interacted some. Brief nods of commiseration when one of them came back after a particularly hard heat, or letting each other know if they’d scented a strange alpha in the area. Small omega things that didn’t make them friends but made them more than strangers.

The new pack leader wasn’t the _only_ alpha in the California pack, but he was the only unmated alpha in their territory. Kaydel and Korrie had been considering visiting other packs to find a mate when this alpha had arrived and initiated a battle for dominance. They'd been curious and maybe even hopeful.

Rey had not been interested. Still wasn’t interested. She liked her independance too much to hand it over to anyone.

Before she got to Rose’s car and out of earshot, she heard the new alpha’s low voice ask, “Her name?”

“Rey, sir.”

“Tell me about her.”


	2. Chapter 2

After sleeping most of the day and eating an entire pack of deli roast beef that was _supposed_ to be her lunches for the rest of the week, Rey grumbled at the knocking on her door. She half expected it to be the new alpha, and she was surprised to find Lor San Tekka, the pack historian, instead.

He smiled gently over the styrofoam cooler in his arms. “May I come in?”

Rey opened the door wider. San Tekka had advised more than one pack leader, and she assumed that he was advising this one as well. Even if she was wary of the new alpha, San Tekka deserved her respect. “Sure.”

The old man set the cooler on her small kitchen table and sank into a chair with a relieved sigh. He folded his hands in front of himself and waited for Rey to sit across from him. He pushed the cooler toward her, so she opened it and peered inside.

The smell of raw meat hit her first, making her inner wolf lick her chops, and then she unwrapped the butcher’s paper to peer at several fat porterhouse steaks carefully preserved on a bed of ice.

“Our new leader bade me bring this to you.”

Frustration made her voice sharp as she rewrapped the steaks and put the cooler’s lid back on. “You’re running his errands?”

San Tekka watched her carefully. “Actually, I’ve come to tell you… warn you, perhaps… that he has announced that you will be his mate.”

Rey’s eyes snapped to his. “He can’t do that!”

San Tekka raised a calming hand. “You are correct that he cannot force you. The opportunity for that has come and gone.”

Rey eased into her chair, wary. “Then what…?”

“He intends to court you.” He nodded toward the cooler.

 _Court?_ Rey stared at San Tekka.

His brows furrowed. “You must not let him intimidate you, child. I know you do not wish for this match. The pack will not allow him to force himself on you.”

Anger flared bright, and Rey crossed her arms, eyes hard. “Except during _Luna Venari_.”

San Tekka flinched. “I have never liked that custom. I advised against it.”

“Fat lot of good it did.”

He looked away, shame creasing his face and making him look older. They sat in awkward silence until Rey started to feel guilty for upsetting him, and San Tekka took a shaky breath. “I am charged with informing you that you are required to accompany him on this Saturday’s hunt.”

It took a moment for the information to sink in. “Are you kidding me?”

“You won’t be alone. We will keep you safe.”

Rey laughed, incredulous.

“I know it’s not an ideal situation,” San Tekka said, pushing his chair out to stand. “But he is determined.”

Rey stood as well, angry because she felt cornered.

“You are not friendless,” he said as she led him to the door. “Remember that.”

She waited for him to step onto the porch and turn to bid her goodbye. “Then why do I feel so alone?”

His eyes held only sorrow and regret. “I’m sorry.”

Rey nodded and watched him go.

\--

Saturday came, and Rey arrived at the pack cabin a little early. It belonged to San Tekka’s family and was big enough to house the entire pack in reasonable comfort. They used it for pack gatherings, though they hadn’t let the new alpha — Ben, she’d learned his name was — know its location until after the dominance fight with Brance.

Rey stank of paint. Her part of the recycling center took household chemicals to redistribute, including paint, and her human boss, Poe, had been goofing around and pretended to throw a can on her just that afternoon.

To his chagrin (and Rey’s), the lid had been loose, and Rey had been doused in paint. Poe had had to clean up the mess while Rey rinsed off with the recycling center’s outdoor hose, but Rey’s sensitive wolf nose was still overwhelmed by the chemical smell.

Poe had given her a spare set of too-large overalls and a sweatshirt someone had left in the back. Both items had their own… _curious_ smells to them, but it was preferable to walking around naked.

Though she _would_ have gotten naked to get away from the paint smell. Werewolves didn’t have much use for modesty.

“Oh my God, you stink,” said Jessika when Rey walked in.

Rey rolled her eyes. “Fuck you, too, Jess.”

Jessika laughed. “I think I have some spare clothes in my car. Go use the outdoor shower, and I’ll bring ‘em to you.”

“No need. I’ll just shift.”

Rey went out back, relieved that she hadn’t seen or smelled Ben inside (though it wasn’t like she could smell anything over herself). In a little nook to one side, obscured by a few bushes, was a deceptively rustic wooden shower stall that showed her ankles and the very tops of her freckled shoulders but nothing between. Rey lost herself in scrubbing her hair with the unscented hair-and-body wash San Tekka always left in there. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back to rinse, and that’s when she smelled him.

Rey turned and saw Ben staring at her, his chest rising and falling a little too fast. He was at a respectful distance, and Rey was pretty sure he couldn’t see anything.

He cleared his throat, though obviously he already had her attention. “You’re here.”

Rey raised a brow at him when he didn’t say anything else. “Astute observation.”

“I didn’t think you would be.”

She rubbed her fingertips over her scalp, trying to scrub away the last traces. “Well, when _your majesty_ insists, I attend.” She offered a sarcastic curtsey.

He didn’t smile or snarl or hit on her or any of the things she would have expected. He just watched her with a thoughtful frown. “You hate me.”

Rey scoffed and folded her forearms on the edge of the shower stall, resting her chin on them. “And you have no idea why.”

“I know why.”

Her eyes snapped to his, her brows pressed together.

“I invoked the _Luna Venari_.” He shrugged one shoulder. “It’s an outdated piece of crap that’s practically meaningless, considering the autonomy omegas have gained over the years and the fact that you could just walk away and let the bond fade.”

Once upon a time, any omega who left her alpha would be hunted and dragged home unless she could evade capture long enough for the mating to undo itself. It took about six months to a year of no contact with one’s mate, allowing widows and widowers to move on with their lives and find someone new, but the process sent them into severe withdrawal. Heats and ruts got more and more unbearable as the bonding chemicals left the body, biology making a last-ditch effort to try and force mates back together so they could procreate.

Rey brushed wet hair behind her ear, looking at the man in front of her and thinking about the handful of old-fashioned wolves she'd met with archaic ideas about women in general and omegas in particular. She would have guessed that someone who invoked the _Luna Venari_ would have been one of _those_. Confused and maybe a little curious, she asked, “If you believe the rite is stupid, then why did you invoke it?”

He took a step closer, his eyes on hers. “It’s more honest.”

She didn’t understand and was sure it showed on her face, because he ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath.

“I’ve met a lot of omegas in my life. I’ve never been able to figure out if they’re being honest or just playing a part. But out there?” He pointed to the forest, gaze intense. “You see the essence of the person. No flattery, no games. And I saw _you_. You’re fast, resourceful, strong. Clever.” Another step closer. “ _Brave_.” Rey couldn’t tear her eyes away. Her cheeks felt warm, and it wasn’t from the spray glancing off her back.

Then his nostrils flared, and he cocked his head, reminding her strongly of his wolf. “Why do you smell like paint?”

The moment dissolved. Rey huffed and turned off the shower, annoyed that she hadn’t been able to wash the scent completely away, and unlatched the stall door before slipping into her fur. She was still wet in her wolf shape, so she stopped by Ben and gave her fur a good shake, slinging water all over him and ignoring his surprised yelp; she raised her head and trotted on, not thinking anything of the rustling fabric behind her until she was bowled over by his much larger wolf, pure black coat stark against the blue sky and greenery.

Rey twisted to bite him, reacting on instinct, but then he licked her nose. It startled her into stillness, giving him a chance to dance back and show his teeth in a wolfy grin.

He lowered his front and wagged his tail, inviting her to play.

She stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, thrown, before slowly turning toward the house and making her way inside, relieved when he didn’t follow her in.

Rey wondered, as she brushed past Kaydel’s legs, if “courting” had rules. It was such an old-fashioned word. Maybe she should ask San Tekka about it. She didn’t want to accidentally agree to anything, after all.

\--

Ben hadn’t come inside yet, and Rey tried not to think about what that meant as the cabin filled.

She was curled up on Finn’s feet, listening to Brance talk to a juvenile wolf from the next town over.

The juvenile had asked Brance why he did everything Ben told him to now, and Brance was looking at the boy quietly. Everyone else in the room had stopped talking to listen to his answer, wolves from all corners of California tuning into the conversation, wolves who’d driven hours in some cases to meet the new pack leader.

Rey was intrigued by the juvenile’s question. She had never seen a transfer of power in a pack before, so she’d thought Brance would leave or be demoted to the bottom of the hierarchy or at least be resentful of Ben.

But none of those things had happened. Instead, Brance had accepted the change with courtesy and calm. He’d seemed much more disturbed by the _Luna Venari_ , but that was probably because his daughter had been involved.

Brance’s voice was soft when he answered the juvenile, but werewolf ears were sharp. “Everyone does their part in a pack. Solo coming into this pack makes us stronger. If I couldn’t accept this change, if I fought it because of pride, it would scatter loyalties, create fractures in the pack, and make us weak.

“A leader serves and protects his pack and the pack supports its leader. The leader is chief enforcer and strategist. He keeps the pack running smoothly.”

“But what if a leader is bad?” asked the boy.

Brance nodded thoughtfully. “There have been packs in the past where the most dominant wolf sought to subjugate his people rather than protect them. And some where the leader has been simply incompetent. But there are ways to handle that.”

The boy looked so excited, his tail would have been wagging if he’d been in wolf form. “Like what?”

“A pack can drive a bad leader out.” Brance tilted his head to one side. “Or they can go to a stronger pack and petition them to intervene.”

“Like Leia Organa?”

Rey perked up at the mention of her personal hero. The Organa pack consisted of several packs across the northeastern region, and Leia herself had been challenged consistently throughout her life. A rare female alpha, she was smart, strong, and vicious. And despite their different designations, Rey wanted to be _just_ like her.

“Like Leia Organa,” Brance agreed. “But I doubt we’ll have any problems here. Solo seems to know what he’s doing.”

“High praise,” said Ben from the entrance, and Rey realized she’d smelled him long before he spoke. He stepped inside, hands in his pockets, but didn’t glance in her direction. The fact that he didn’t bothered her for some reason. “Is everyone here?”

Brance nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay. You and Rey will be with me. We meet outside in five.”

\--

Rey loved hunts. The pack had one every other full moon, going deep into the unsettled parts of the forest to bring down a few deer and rabbits, maybe even an elk.

The full pack was too large to hunt as one lump group, so they tended to break off into smaller groups. Tonight, though, they’d welcome their new leader by hunting as a cohesive unit. There were roughly fifty members to this pack; plenty of werewolves moved to the region due to the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the lure of all that space to run.

It would be a crowded hunt, and Rey was expected to stay at the front by Ben, a place of honor.

As everyone gathered in wolf form outside the cabin, Rey had to pretend not to notice the curious looks cast her way. She sat tall and looked at the trees, her muscles tense until a stout russet wolf jumped on her and startled her out of her pensive thoughts.

Rey rolled out from under Rose and huffed, jumping to her feet and dodging as Finn tried to ambush her from the brush on her other side. She play-snarled and chased him a few feet before scrambling around and running away, embracing the simple joy of the game as they traded off pursuit.

Rose and Finn were the ones who finally slowed and stopped, drawing Rey’s attention to the fact that the pack was ready and watching the pack leader. He sat in his wolf form, dignified and impassive, his eyes on her. Rey planted her hindquarters immediately, lowering her eyes in embarrassment at having been caught cavorting like a puppy.

Was he angry that she’d played with her friends but not with him? Had she embarrassed the pack? Would he take it out on her friends?

She smelled him coming closer but didn’t look up. She didn’t know if her scent had changed or if he was just good at reading body language, because he stood beside her for a moment before briefly running his cheek and neck along hers, a comfort and reassurance.

Rey’s eyes were wide as he stepped past her, and she was too stunned to do anything more than obey when he inclined his head, a request that she join him. He’d just _scented_ her. Only a little, but still. He’d done it in front of the _entire pack_.

Then he tipped his head back to howl, and Rey joined the rest of the pack in their hunting song.

\--

Rey stayed at Ben’s flank on the hunt as the rest of the pack spread out behind them. Brance kept pace on Ben’s other side, in the position of second. Rey occupied the spot that should have been for Ben’s mate.

He was making a statement.

Rey felt self-conscious, so she tried to throw herself into the hunt, letting adrenaline rush through her body and instinct guide her as the pack scented a family of deer and changed course. The prey fled, and howls rose from behind, excitement stirring everyone’s bloodlust as all traces of civilization fell away.

Rey helped Ben bring down the buck, hamstringing it the way she’d tried to do with the moose, but she fell away as soon as she’d done her part, letting others finish it off and begin to tear into the meat. Ben was at the center of the crowd, big and black and impossible to miss.

Rey walked the perimeter, choosing not to join in. She felt unsure of herself and too visible, so she stayed among the shadows while everyone was distracted.

She saw Ben raise his head, the buck’s heart in his mouth, and look for her. Rey froze, realizing he wanted to give the heart to her, and shook her head frantically when he finally caught sight of her.

The motion made him cock his head to the side, but he didn’t bring her the heart. He just sat there, watching her, his gift in his mouth, as Rey dropped her eyes and shrank back among the trees.

She couldn’t handle much more attention right now, and she didn’t know if accepting gifts meant she was accepting _him_ , and she didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the entire pack by turning her nose up at anything he gave her. And what if it angered him? What if…

What would happen when he realized she wasn’t anybody special? That Korrie and Kaydel had much more to offer? When he realized she was too independent, too aggressive, too belligerent? When she refused to stay home to whelp a dozen pups?

Rey wasn’t a very good omega, and she was fine with that, but she didn’t look forward to the public rejection and embarrassment and pity when Ben came to his senses.

It was while she was lost in her thoughts, pacing the perimeter among the trees, that she smelled the humans.

She whipped her head up and tested the air. The wind had shifted. They were close enough to pose a threat, and she couldn’t tell from here if they were campers or hunters.

She gave two sharp barks, the signal for trouble, and started back toward the pack. Ben met her, followed closely by Finn, Rose, and Brance.

She shifted. “Humans,” she whispered. “Not far. I didn’t investigate.”

Ben nodded, and she shifted back to wolf and followed as they gathered the pack and led everyone away.

Rey stayed with Finn and Rose this time, hoping no one would notice in the hurry to leave the area that she hadn’t taken up the place of honor at Ben’s side.

The pack came across an elk and took it down, but Rey didn’t help this time. She paced, on edge from the scent of humans. Ben must have felt the same, because he led everyone straight back to the cabin after they finished the elk, cutting the hunt short. After everyone but Rey shifted and dressed, Ben dismissed the pack and sent a glance Rey’s way. He was distracted when Brance approached to speak to him, and Rey took the opportunity to pad outside and get her paint-stained clothes back on. She was buttoning the overalls when she saw a dark shape dart back into the forest.

She glanced behind her and saw Kaydel exit the cabin. Rey walked over and jerked a thumb toward the trees. “Where is he going?”

Kaydel looked, then shrugged. “Dad told him it would be a good idea to make sure those humans weren’t a threat. Or in trouble.”

Rey absorbed this. “Who else went?”

Kaydel shook her head. “Dad offered, but Ben said he’d be fine,”

“He went _alone_?”

Kaydel seemed a little taken aback at her vehemence. “Yeah?”

Rey was furious as she started stripping her clothes back off. “This should not be my problem. _God_. Men are so—” The word “stupid” was cut off as she shifted and landed on four paws. She let out a short growl as she took off in the direction she’d seen him go.

When she found him, he was quietly sniffing around a campsite with two tents and the scent of four people. From where she sat, Rey couldn’t smell any sign of weapons, but she could hear the soft noises of sex in one of the tents.

She watched Ben sniff that tent and listen for a moment before he turned and sought out Rey. He didn’t seem surprised to see her, so she supposed he’d smelled her when she’d arrived.

She followed him deeper into the trees until they were out of earshot, and then he shifted and looked at her expectantly.

Rey shifted and bared her teeth at him. His eyes widened.

“What?”

“You idiot,” she hissed, keeping her voice down. “Did you really think it was a good idea to come out here _without backup_? Are you suicidal?!”

He smiled slowly, as if something had just occurred to him. “You were worried about me.”

Rey realized, from his scent and… _other_ evidence, that he was getting aroused. Flustered, she took a half-step back and crossed her arms. “Most people do worry about the village idiot.”

“Defensive.” He closed the gap, bringing a hand up to touch a lock of her hair. He wasn’t quite touching her below, but Rey was very aware of his… _thing_ and how it had begun to lift.

It wasn’t the first penis she’d ever seen — the pack shifted in front of each other all the time — and it wasn’t even the first erection. But it was the first one that was pointed at _her_.

If she moved toward him, it would brush against her.

She did not move, neither toward nor away.

Rey’s heart was pounding, and she couldn’t quite look away from his eyes. She caught the hand at her hair, intending to push it away, but her fingers only lingered over his. His scent surrounded her, thick and heady and speaking to her, urging her to respond. A hint of desire licked at her spine, and she swallowed, confused and nervous.

“Why didn’t you want the heart?” he asked, gently stroking his thumb across her cheekbone.

Rey came back to herself and took a step back. Ben let her, dropping his hand though his _other_ appendage had lifted further, responding to the faint scent of her arousal. She could smell it on herself, just a hint of rich slick, but an alpha would notice it instantly at this distance.

“I…” She gathered her thoughts and her worries, and it all just spilled out of her. How she didn’t like being the center of attention, how she didn’t understand what was expected of her, how she wasn’t ready for a mate, how she didn’t want to embarrass the pack or make him angry enough to kick her out, how she didn’t know why he was even interested in her when there were omegas like Korrie and Kaydel around, how she wasn’t obedient or submissive or any of the things an omega ought to be. All of it. All of it came out there in the dark woods in front of an aroused alpha who still managed to look like he was listening and taking her words seriously.

He waited until she was finished speaking. “If you think anything tonight has made me less determined, you’re a fool.”

Rey let out a soft gasp as he stepped forward. He kept his hips just far enough away that he didn’t touch her with his cock as he bent to nuzzle her cheek.

“You’re magnificent,” he breathed beside her ear, the heat radiating off his body making her shiver. He lifted his head enough that he could look down at her, but he didn’t move away. “There is no obligation attached to my gifts. They’re yours. I can be more circumspect, if you don’t want the pack’s eyes on you, but I won’t stop offering them.

“I know it will take time, that you need to know me better before you can make a decision. For myself… I don’t want an omega who bends to my every whim. I want an equal. And, unless I’ve missed the mark… that’s you.”

Rey stared up at him, eyes wide, and almost took a step forward before remembering and glancing down, then away with a bright blush on her cheeks, thankful for the dark. He wasn’t fully erect, but neither was he flaccid.

“Would you have done it?” she asked, eyes on the treeline. The _Luna Venari_ still bothered her. “Would you have claimed me, even if I didn’t want it?”

He was quiet until she looked at him again, and he searched between her eyes. “I would have asked permission.” A tilt of his head. “My mother didn’t raise me to be a _complete_ monster.”

“And if I’d said no?”

His lips twitched in amusement. “We’d be right back here. Standing naked and unmated in the woods while I try very hard not to touch you.”

The scent of slick thickened, and he twitched. Rey turned her face away but couldn't step back, dragging deep breaths of his scent over her tongue.

“May I kiss you?”

Rey's eyes snapped to his. She couldn't tell in the dark, but she suspected they were all pupil. His face was nothing but focused angles and shadows, and he looked more predatory than when they’d hunted.

But he remained still, waiting for her permission.

She should refuse, but his scent was all around her, and it fogged her brain so she nodded and tipped her face up even though it wasn't the smart call.

She expected him to grab her and press his body to hers and plunder her mouth. She was ready for it, vibrating with desire, but he kept his body away and gently, so gently, pressed his lips to hers. His mouth trembled as he tilted his head for better access, and he slowly traced her lips with his, exploring with a low groan when she opened for him.

Rey lost track of time, gripping his forearms to stay up while their tongues tangled.

She was running on instinct now, shifting closer, and they both gasped when she bumped into his erection. Ben's grip on her tightened, and he stared down at her before taking a shaky and very deliberate step back, releasing her.

“We should go,” he said, his voice rough. “Before this escalates.”

Rey looked down at her belly and the smear of liquid his cock had drawn there. She touched it, and he jerked.

“Rey,” he growled, a warning, and her head cleared just enough that she was able to gasp and step back, out of his reach.

He nodded tightly and shifted to his wolf form. Rey took the opportunity while he wasn't looking to lick the fluid off her finger, curious.

She regretted it immediately, the scent of him exploding over her taste buds and triggering what felt like a torrent of slick.

Ben's head snapped up, and he growl-whined, backing away from her, his ears flat against his skull.

Rey, stunned and embarrassed, shifted as well. He was still visibly aroused in wolf form, fighting for control.

Rey ducked her head and tucked her tail between her legs, apologetic. Ben shook his head and sneezed, most likely trying to expel her scent from his nose.

She backed up further, feeling stupid. What did she think would happen, tasting an alpha's precome like that? Her body was _hardwired_ to respond.

Ben looked at her for a moment, tense and unmoving, then turned to lead her back to the pack cabin. Rey kept a responsible distance from him, letting them both get some fresh air to clear their heads.

 _Stupid omega_ , she scolded. She'd been too overwhelmed by his scent and hadn't cared that she'd been putting herself in danger. She could defend herself, but not if she was so drunk on the scent and taste of alpha that she didn't _want_ to fight back.

Rey shuddered. He could have done anything to her, and she would have let him. It was only Ben's self-control that had protected her.

_Stupid stupid stupid._

\--

 **Unknown:** Did you get home okay?

Rey stared at the text, her fingers buried in her cunt. She'd still had a trace of Ben's precome on her stomach when she'd gotten home and had chosen to indulge herself rather than hop into the shower.

 **Rey:** Ben?

 **Unknown:** Yes.

 **Rey:** How did you get this number?

 **Ben:** I asked Brance for the pack directory. You got home okay?

 **Rey:** Yes.

She saved his number one-handed and resumed her activities with the other.

 **Ben:** About earlier. I'm sorry I let things get so out of hand.

Rey bit her lip, tempted to get his help in getting off, but her head wasn't fuzzy anymore, and she knew it was a bad idea to encourage him more than she already had.

She wondered if he'd touched himself when he got home. Probably. She hoped so.

Rey sighed and shook her head at herself, knowing she'd feel self-conscious about that thought later.

 **Rey:** It wasn't your fault.

 **Ben:** Thank you.

 **Ben:** Please let me know if I did anything that made you uncomfortable.

 **Rey:** You didn’t.

 **Rey:** Did I?

 **Ben:** No.

 **Ben:** God no.

 **Ben:** You smell amazing.

 **Ben:** I can’t stop thinking about you.

Rey dropped her phone and threw her head back, fingers hard at work as she scrabbled for the peak, the words going to her head. “ _Alpha_ ,” she whispered softly into the dark. “ _Alpha, please_.”

She licked a finger and rubbed it against the skin where he’d left his precome. She’d already scraped up the dried bits, but she prayed for one last trace as she sucked the finger into her mouth.

The faintest hint of his taste rolled over her tongue and she whimpered, coming apart on her fingers as she sucked and sucked, desperate for more. _Alpha alpha alpha_ , her brain chanted.

When she came back to her body, her sweaty limbs akimbo and heart pounding, she realized her phone was still there on the bed with her. She looked at it, at his last two texts, and shoved her comforter over it before she did something stupid like beg him to come over and knot her.

 _Shower_ , she decided. A shower would clear her head, and some mouthwash would get his scent off her tongue.

As she wiped the traces of her pack leader from her body and mind, Rey felt more and more embarrassed at the way she’d lost control. She expected that kind of thing during her heat, but it bothered her that she’d reacted so strongly to such small cues from him.

 _You’ve never spent much time around an unmated alpha_ , she reminded herself. _And never one that was interested in you. It’s bound to mess with your hormones._

Rey returned to her room with a new resolve to keep her distance from Ben Solo. The rich, musky scent of omega slick stank up her room, deepening her shame. She opened her window to air it out and decided to do laundry tomorrow during her lunch break so that Rose and Finn didn’t get a whiff of her pungent bedding. They shared a rental house with a washer and dryer in the basement, so at least she wasn’t taking that scent to the laundromat.

Or, _shudder_ , the pack cabin. Plenty of single young wolves hauled their laundry over there to save money.

No, Rey much preferred to keep the audience for her embarrassing omega smells limited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of details about werewolves in this chapter. One thing I'll add: embarrassing things like erections do happen while nude with the pack (in either form), and it's polite to just ignore it. The afflicted will generally give the pack some space and stay at the back until the problem goes away. Werewolves are very practical about bodily functions.


	3. Chapter 3

Ronith Blario was a packmate she’d known for years, a baby-faced beta who always seemed nervous around girls. He had a part time job gathering samples for an environmental testing lab contracted by the county, and he’d invited Rey to lunch with him and some friends at the burger place that was one of the pack’s favorite restaurants.

“Been a while,” she greeted as she hung her bag on an empty chair and dropped onto the seat with a smile. Ronith had pulled a small group together that included his best friend Ziff and their other friend Nix, who had a nasty temper but was good friends with Rose’s sister, Paige. Paige used to be a permanent fixture at the house but had moved to the Minnesota pack for her job the previous year.

There was a third young man as well, someone Rey didn’t know. He was handsome in a glamorously rugged way, with very blue eyes and sensual lips.

“Sorry I smell like ten different solvents,” she told them. “I’ve been doing inventory all morning.”

The handsome young man waved a dismissive hand. “You smell lovely.”

Ronith and the others looked at him oddly, so Rey was pretty sure she didn’t smell _lovely_ at all. The bike ride over had cleared some of it from her clothes, not hiding her scent anymore, but she still didn’t smell great.

The handsome young man leaned forward, perching his chin on his hand. He was a little older than Ronith. “Where do you work?”

“The recycling center,” Rey said as she tried to remember if she’d ever seen him before. He certainly wasn’t pack. She tested the air, wondering if he was human, and her eyes widened.

_Alpha._

“Don’t blame Ron,” the alpha said. “When I heard what was going on down here, I bullied him into setting this up.” He held a hand out, and Rey shook it. “Stomeroni Starck. I’m Ron’s cousin from Montana.”

She raised a neutral brow. “So you’re in town to visit Ronith.”

“I’m here to meet you, actually,” he said as he placed his napkin in his lap. Ronith looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up. “I had some free time on my hands and decided to come see what all the fuss was about.” He dragged his eyes over her, and Rey tensed. “Seeing family is certainly a bonus, though.” Stark showed very straight, very white teeth in a smile.

Rey shook her head, confused. “Why would you want to meet _me_?”

Starck raised a brow and smirked at her. “Are you kidding me?” When she continued to look blankly at him, he leaned forward and said, “ _Ben Solo_.”

She frowned. “What about him?”

Starck sat back to look her over again. “You don’t keep up with the gossip, do you?” When she just narrowed her eyes at him, he let out a laugh. “There are just a lot of eyes on this guy. His takeover of the California pack was news, but you? Ben Solo has never shown any interest in an omega until now, which means…”

“People will be curious,” Ziff supplied diplomatically.

Starck nodded and leaned his chin on his fist, eyes lazily dragging over her as he spoke. “Speculation is that you’re something special. An omega to make all other omegas pale in comparison.”

Rey crossed her arms and fixed him with a deadpan stare. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

He shrugged and leaned in, not even trying to hide his sniff as he tried to smell her under the acrid scents from work, brushing his palm lightly against her arm just above her elbow.

Rey drew back. “What are you doing?”

Starck smiled winningly and ignored her question. “I’m going to pay for your meal and then drive you home.”

Rey glared at Ronith, Ziff, and Nix, all of whom ducked their heads in discomfort. She was upset, and her scent telegraphed it, making the betas squirm.

She stayed to eat because, hey, free food, but it was tense for everyone but Stark, who was either ignorant of or blatantly ignoring her unease as he used his considerable charm to try and pull Rey into conversation. She replied with discouraging terseness that didn’t seem to bother him.

“I’m sorry,” Ronith said wearily when Starck went to get his car and they all trailed outside. “He really is a nice guy, he’s just… pushy.”

Rey sighed and hugged her packmate, who leaned further into her as the angry note left her scent. When she pulled back, she said, “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

He winced and nodded. “Deal.”

Rey hugged Ziff and Nix goodbye as well. The three of them had been her packmates for almost a decade. They were practically family.

“I’ll see you guys.” She waved, jogging to her bicycle before Starck could catch up and offer her a ride. Again.

She took a different way back to work, needing to clear her head after that mess of a lunch, and her new route took her by the fire station. When she cruised by, she smelled something familiar and stopped her bike, frowning at the open door and the big red truck just inside.

“Can I help you?” An older man, a human, wiped his hands on a rag and stepped out from beside the fire truck.

Rey wasn’t sure what to say. _I thought I smelled someone?_ “No,” she said, stumbling over her words. “No, I just… it’s nothing.” She hesitated longer, trying to catch the scent again, but the wind had shifted and blew _into_ the station now. Still, she didn’t want to leave until she could catch that scent again and confirm it was what she thought it was.

A door swung open so hard it banged into the wall behind it, and she saw Ben duck through, chin tilted up as he sampled the air. It took him less than a second to zero in on her, and Rey held her breath as he approached. He stopped several feet away, hands flexing as if he wasn’t sure what to do with them. The human looked between them curiously, but Ben paid no attention to him. “Rey.”

She glanced past him to the station, unable to maintain such intense eye contact for long. “Is this where you work?”

“Yes.” He looked behind him as well, seemed to notice his coworker, and scowled pointedly at the other man.

The other man took the hint and went inside.

“What… why…” Ben looked at her in confusion, then inhaled deeply and frowned. He moved closer, lowering his head to her shirt collar. “Why do you smell like…?” He ducked to her arm, and Rey remembered with slight panic that Starck had touched her there. Ben’s mouth opened a sliver as he took in the other alpha’s pheromones, his muscles tensing. His scent spiked.

“I had lunch with some of the pack betas,” she explained as lightly as she could. “Ronith’s cousin is in town. He’s an alpha.”

Ben growled softly in the back of his throat, scowling. He smelled agitated. “I vaguely recall someone telling me their cousin was coming to town.” He sounded put out about it. Visiting wolves had to announce themselves in someone else’s territory. It was a casual system but important because pack leaders who caught unexpected strangers on their land tended to bite first and ask questions later.

Ben would have been within his rights to hunt Starck down without that courtesy.

“It’s not like he’s the first to scent me without asking,” she said, giving him a pointed look.

Ben’s eyes snapped to hers, and his jaw worked over a dark emotion.

Rey put a foot on her bicycle’s pedal, gave him a neutral, “I’ll see you later,” and pushed off toward work, leaving Ben behind, her thoughts trailing after her like smoke.

* * *

**Ben:** Pack cookout on Sat. I'll pick you up at 2pm.

 **Rey:** I have a ride.

 **Ben:** Now you have a different one.

* * *

For a moment, Ben thought Rey wouldn’t get in the car. She stuck her head in and gave him a _look_ , nostrils flaring. He refused to look away first, alpha instincts rising to the challenge.

Those same instincts settled back and purred when she slid into the passenger seat he’d scented before coming to pick her up.

It would leave his scent on her without having to touch her directly, and, from the way she glared as she buckled her seatbelt and then pointedly rolled down her window, it seemed she knew _exactly_ what he was up to.

But she didn’t protest, so he counted it as a win.

Two-liter bottles of soda rolled a little in the back floorboard as he pulled out into traffic, family-size bags of chips rustling softly in the back seat.

“There will be alphas from out of town at the cookout today,” he told her, and she turned to look at him from where she’d been enjoying the breeze on her face.

She cocked her head to one side, a very wolflike motion, and huffed. “Feeling threatened?”

Ben knew she probably meant his position as the dominant alpha, but the question hit too close to the truth. Ben was on edge, knowing more than one of the visiting unmated alphas would be curious about Rey, eager to meet her, maybe even try to take her from him. He tried to suppress a warning growl at the thought, but it rumbled in his chest anyway, and the slight widening of her eyes pleased a primal part of him. “Just don’t let any of them rub up on you, and there won’t be bloodshed.”

Rey’s expression went flat. She opened her mouth, then seemed to change her mind and shut it. His jaw worked as she leaned back in her seat, rested an arm out the open window, and proceeded to ignore him.

He liked her proud profile, her tanned limbs arranged artfully. The sweet, faint scent of _omega_ blew toward him on the summer air, making his instincts stir. _Mate is in our domain, our scent is on her; take her somewhere quiet, mate her, keep her, breed her._

Ben let a slow breath out through his nose, seeking to calm his wolf. The urge to mate was stronger than ever before, with his chosen omega so close and so unattainable. She’d nearly torn his control apart the other night when her arousal had spiked sweet and rich between them, indicating her willingness to be mounted.

 _Interest is not permission_ , he reminded his pacing wolf. It bared its teeth at him.

He’d been unsettled for days, anticipating this incursion into his territory. Under other circumstances, he’d call it an invasion. He knew he’d probably be challenged for dominance at least once, with the number of alphas in town now, and his wolf was on high alert, ready to defend his territory, his pack, and his omega.

A pack leader couldn’t show weakness. Ben had to stay on top of things, make sure no challenge to his authority went unanswered, however small.

But Rey… he couldn’t stop the other alphas from hovering around her, trying to touch her, trying to scent her. He wouldn’t be able to stop it if she responded to one of them, couldn’t interfere with another alpha’s courtship. His grip on the steering wheel tightened, and he had to fight to keep his claws from pricking the sun-warmed material.

A warm hand rubbed his shoulder, and his claws retracted, soothed by the touch.

Rey pulled her hand away and looked back out the window before glancing his way with a frown. “What’s got you in such a twist?”

He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. “Maybe eight of the visiting alphas will be unmated.”

“ _Eight_?” she sputtered. “How many alphas are visiting?”

“Enough,” he muttered, pulling into the park’s small lot. They were early, as Ben planned to help with setup and needed to be there to greet all the visiting wolves.

Her gaze narrowed, and she turned to him as he shut the car off. “Do you think they’re here to cause trouble?”

A soft growl left him. “Not sure. Maybe some of them.” New pack leaders were always tested more than established ones.

Rey was frowning, lips pursed in thought.

“Just…” he started, then stopped himself. What was he supposed to say? _Be careful?_ He’d seen her in action — if she didn’t want someone to touch her, they wouldn’t be able to. _Don’t break my heart?_ That wasn’t her responsibility. He couldn’t order her to ignore all other alphas. It wasn’t his place.

“Watch my back,” he said finally, eyes flicking to hers. “And keep an eye on the other omegas. I don’t know them well enough to tell if something’s off.”

This seemed to be the right thing to say, because she smiled at him, warm and genuine. His wolf turned in a happy circle. _Our mate is pleased._

Ben let himself have it.

* * *

"Alphas," he said. "All of them, alphas. Mom's an alpha, Dad's an alpha, aunts and uncles are alphas… I could barely _breathe_ back home." He handed her bags of potato chips out of his car, taking the sacks of soda for himself.

There were a number of questions on her tongue. She wanted to know more about his family, more about growing up in a werewolf home, more about where he was from and what holidays had been like. Finally, she settled on, "Why California?"

He shrugged. "I didn't start with California," he admitted. "There were rumors of a crazy old wolf who'd taken over Vancouver, so I went to see what that was about first." His jaw tightened, and he led her to the picnic tables by the grill, nodding to Larma and Brance and Norra Wexley, who had a cooler full of meat and were working on starting the grill. "Turns out he'd been driven out of South America by the packs there for being a tyrant, and he was turning humans in Canada, trying to build an army to take back to San Paolo.”

"He was driven out of _South America_?" The packs down there were ancient and renowned for their brutality. Rivalries and feuds reached back centuries, and none of the old packs had any tolerance for outsiders. They made the American werewolves look like bunnies. “What happened?” she asked, following him back to his car for another load. “What did you do?”

He popped his trunk and started pulling out more grocery sacks full of condiments and paper plates and plastic cups. He handed her half of them. “He was too tough to take head-on. Canny as hell and scarred from old attempts to kill him." He gestured to indicate the extent of the scarring, and Rey was suitably impressed. Werewolves didn’t scar easily — you really had to take a chunk out of someone for it, rip flesh from bone. “So I dosed a hundred dollar bottle of vodka with elephant tranquilizer. Once he passed out, I tore his head off.” He made a twisting, jerking motion with his right arm, the sack in his hand rustling and swinging.

“Holy shit.”

"Some of his lieutenants took off after that. Not sure where they are now. A few of the others tried to challenge me and failed." He shrugged, but his mouth twisted with distaste, and he didn’t meet her eye. “Didn’t want to stick around once the pack was on its feet. Bad memories.”

They were back at the picnic table, the older wolves working nearby, so she didn’t press for more.

* * *

“I am going to pull your intestines out through your mouth and wear them as a belt if you don’t back _the fuck_ off.”

Ben was not the only werewolf to turn and stare toward the Ultimate Frisbee game. Five of the visiting alphas and their entourages had arrived and were standing with him by the picnic tables, and several of them looked startled.

“What’s going on there?” asked a wolf from the Texas pack.

Guila Angria from the Oregon pack chuckled. “Looks like someone’s getting their nose nipped.”

“Atta girl,” Ben murmured, a smile pulling at his lips.

The alpha from Texas glanced his way and made a face, his nostrils flaring. “Are you _turned on_ right now?”

Ben raised an incredulous brow. “You _aren’t_?” He looked back at Rey, her long-limbed stride, the way she held her head, the abashed posture of the alpha behind her and the way he still trailed along in her wake.

“Is that the omega you’re interested in?” asked Guila softly. He knew Ben a little from before Guila’s family had moved to Oregon. They’d played together as pups.

Ben hummed and nodded. “Rey.”

The alpha from Texas folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at Rey, assessing her. Several of the other alphas had the same expression.

Ben bit back the urge to growl at them.

“She’s not what I would have expected,” said Guila, tossing Ben a curious glance.

Ben bristled. “And what did you expect?”

“Submissive,” said the Texas alpha, still staring thoughtfully at Rey. Some of the others nodded. “Sweet-tempered and ripe.” A grunt, and he glanced Ben’s way. “I guess you’re the type to want to break ‘em in, huh?”

The snarl that burst out of Ben couldn’t be held back, but his lunge was aborted as a small body inserted itself between them.

“We’re in public, boys.”

Ben stopped, his instincts halting his body before his brain could catch up.

Kaydel.

The omega stood between him and the other alpha, smiling sunnily in an effort to diffuse the tension.

Ben narrowed his eyes but stepped back, allowing it, and caught sight of Brance watching closely. Ben lifted his chin and met the Texas alpha’s eye. “I think you should be careful about disrespecting members of my pack.”

Neither of them looked away, and Ben saw the man calculating his odds, saw his hands flex with the thought of claws.

Saw him glance around the park filled with werewolves and humans, lower his eyes, and take a step back.

Diffused.

For now.

“Ben, you’ve forgotten to introduce us to your lovely friend,” Guila noted, smiling at Kaydel. She smiled back, a bright spot of sunshine that all the alphas focused on, their attention drawn to the omega in their midst instead of Rey on the field. Ben felt grateful toward Kaydel for distracting them.

“Food’s about ready,” Brance interrupted. “Kay, why don’t you round up the others.” He gestured at the Ultimate Frisbee game.

The alphas watched her go with more than passing interest, and Brance caught Ben’s eye. Understanding flashed between them, the shared distaste of dominant wolves toward strangers in their territory. Brance lifted his brows in question, and Ben nodded. He’d help keep an eye on Kaydel. Satisfied, Brance went back to the grill.

Ben watched to make sure nobody harassed the petite omega, but she had it handled, approaching her packmates and laughing with them for a moment, the game shutting down, players drifting into a clump.

But where…

Ben looked sharply around and spotted Rey with her arm slung around Korrie Sella’s shoulders, glaring down a stray alpha Ben had missed. He strode over, looming between the omegas and the shorter alpha.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” Ben bit out, accusation in his tone.

“LeHuse,” the alpha said, offering a hand. “Louisiana pack. I was just introducing myself to your lovely omegas here.”

LeHuse had to know he’d stepped out of line, but he didn’t look a bit repentant. Ben applied pressure as he shook the other alpha’s hand. LeHuse tried to do the same, werewolf strength threatening to break the small bones, but Ben refused to wince.

“That’s enough,” said Rey, looking narrowly between them. She slapped their hands, making them let go, and her scent drifted to Ben, stronger because she’d been sweating. His scent still clung to her, faint but there. A warning. A _claim_.

He wanted to bundle her up and get her out of there.

Instead, he turned to Korrie and asked gently, “Are you alright?”

She nodded, glancing at Rey who was still glaring at LeHuse. “Yes, thank you.”

He turned to LeHuse. “If you _ever_ approach one of our omegas while she’s alone again, I will rip your arms off.”

LeHuse raised his hands in mocking surrender. “No harm, no foul.” He bowed to the omegas with a smarmy, “Ladies,” and made his way over to the group of visitors. He seemed to know the Texas alpha, because they spoke for a moment and then laughed.

“Thanks for the assist,” Korrie murmured too low for the alphas to hear.

“Anytime,” Rey said with a smile. She glanced at Ben and caught him looking at her, but he didn’t look away, only smiled his appreciation. Her lips twitched, and he saw her start to smile before she looked away.

Korrie looked between them and stepped back with the faintest quirk of her lips. “I’ll just go check on Kay, then.”

Ben turned his back on the cookout to face Rey, isolated for this one moment, and folded his arms across his chest to keep from touching her. He could excuse scenting her because it kept her safe. Kaydel and Korrie had been scented by the alphas in their families before coming out, and Ben could argue that it was his role as pack leader to scent an omega who had no family to do it for her. “You really put that guy in his place.”

She shrugged. “I was just helping Korrie.”

Ben smiled. “I meant the guy on the field. The one whose intestines you offered to wear?”

Rey barked out a laugh. “Oh. Yeah. Starck was getting on my nerves.”

“It was really hot.”

She gave him an incredulous look, and he shrugged.

“Strong women do it for me.”

They just stood there for a few more moments, smiling at each other, her cheeks turning pink, and then Rey looked away.

“We should get back.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, glancing over his shoulder. “I have host duties to perform.” He grimaced, and Rey laughed, which warmed him. It made the necessity of returning to his duties less oppressive, especially when she walked back with him, though she split off before they reached the visitors.

Ben surveyed the group of alphas, hands in his pockets, watching some of his pack members mingle with them. He took his hands out and clapped them once. When he had their attention, he said, “Food’s up.”

* * *

Music drifted across the area as Rey watched Larma uncover a potato salad (with bacon, if Rey’s nose wasn’t tricking her). Rey grinned, seeing the same expression hit her packmates as the music cranked up.

Nix and Ziff were the first to start singing along, but by the second verse everyone who knew the song had chimed in, maybe twenty people belting out, “In touch with the ground, I’m on the hunt I’m after you…”

By the time the titular line came along, the entire pack howled, “ _And I’m hungry like the woooooolf!_ ”

Snap Wexley let out a real howl, and Rey and a few others joined him.

It had been tradition in the California pack for years now that Duran Duran call everyone to eat for pack meals. Snap had started it when he was younger, and he still handled the music.

“Your husband is such a dork,” Rey told Kare as they got in line.

Kare grinned fondly over at him, a man slightly older than Ben with a friendly face and a teddy-bear body. He was one of the most approachable wolves in the entire pack and didn’t mind being considered silly in order to put others at ease, a beta low on the dominance totem pole to the point that he was considered a submissive wolf — which meant he was content to follow and wholly disinclined to challenge for rank.

“Yeah, he is,” said Kare, pride and affection warming her voice.

Kare was one of the more dominant female betas in the pack, even more dominant than Larma, though Larma’s position as Brance’s mate put her above Kare.

Aside from the pack leadership, wolves structured themselves loosely in a way that had little practical application in day to day life, a kind of seniority that everyone understood. It was more like a social club than a military unit, with unspoken rules about who got first pick of meat during pack hunts.

It also translated to who got to line up first at a pack cookout.

They weren’t usually formal about it, families sticking together in line, first-come-first serve so long as the pack leader gave the go ahead, and less dominant wolves would casually gesture the more dominant wolves to skip ahead; but today they tried to gather in a loose semblance of pecking order.

Ben went first, then the visiting alphas because that was a courtesy afforded representatives from other packs, then Brance and San Tekka. Everyone else was behind them, some of the beta visitors jostling for a higher position than they probably deserved.

A visiting alpha stopped by Rey on her way past and gave her a head-to-toe look before holding out a hand. “Greer. Washington pack.”

Rey shook the warm olive-skinned hand and met the other woman’s eye. “Rey.”

“Solo likes you,” Greer observed, still holding Rey’s hand. Then her serious expression cracked into the barest hint of an appreciative smile. “He has good taste.” With a wink and a gentle press to Rey’s fingers, Greer released her and went to the head of the line with the other guest alphas, leaving Rey with the startled feeling that she’d just been flirted with.

Rey talked to Finn and Rose in line, occasionally singing along with Snap’s music and laughing when “Howlin’ For You” came on and one of the alphas who’d already gotten their food made a face like he’d _just_ realized this was a wolf-themed playlist.

She had just taken her seat in the grass under a shady tree by the jogging path with her friends when a familiar face started to jog past and then stopped and jogged backwards.

“Hey!” said Poe, tugging out his earbuds.

Rey smiled, pleased to see him. “Hey, boss.”

“What’re you up to?” he asked, glancing at her full plate and friends with a curious smile.

“Cookout. Wanna join us?”

He glanced toward the picnic tables and the grills. More than one head was turned their way, though most in hearing range were probably listening without being obvious about it.

Poe jiggled his earbuds in his hand. “I don’t wanna intrude.”

“We have more than enough food,” Rey said, but she gestured to an empty spot on the grass. “Or you can just sit with us. These are my roommates, Finn and Rose.” Rey nodded at her friends in turn, and Finn nodded at Poe, his mouth full of hamburger. Rose smiled. “Guys, this is my boss from the center, Poe.”

Finn managed to swallow. “Yeah, we’ve heard a lot about you. Take a load off, man.”

“So is this like a family reunion or something?” Poe asked, glancing behind himself again. Rey could see Ronith and some of the other young betas making their way over to join them in the shade.

Rose waved a chip vaguely. “Something like that.”

“It’s kind of an adopted family. Not legally, but… emotionally,” Rey said softly, making sure her voice didn’t carry far. She’d never had to define the pack to a human before, but Finn was nodding. Rose was concentrating on her plate, and Rey wondered if she shouldn’t have taken the family angle. Rose remembered her parents better than either Rey or Finn did, so maybe the pack filled a different role for her.

Rey reached over and squeezed Rose’s hand, letting go just as Ronith and his friends arrived and settled in around them.

Which unfortunately meant Starck _also_ joined them.

“Stomeroni Starck,” he said as he shook Poe’s hand, smile edged with challenge. “And who’re you?”

“My coworker,” Rey said, narrowing her eyes at Starck. “And _friend_.”

Instead of warning Starck off, this seemed to make him even more determined. He scooted a little closer to Rey, making her bristle.

“What did I tell you about personal space?” she snapped.

He pressed his lips together but scooted back.

And then Ben was there, folding his arms with a handful of alphas at his back. It took Rey a moment to realize they were all glaring at _Starck_.

Ben cleared his throat, and Starck’s eyes widened when he noticed the small crowd.

Ben crouched to get on eye level with the other alpha. “This is your one and only warning. If you get asked to back off one more time, by _any_ of the women here, I’m banning you.”

Rey’s brows went up. Banning meant Starck wouldn’t be welcome in Ben’s territory anymore and would be considered a threat. Any member of the California pack would be expected to treat him as a trespasser.

She watched Ben stand, saw his gaze sweep the lot of them. His eyes settled on Poe, assessing, but he held out a hand. “I’m Ben. I don’t think we’ve met.”

Poe stood, dusting off his pants, and shook Ben’s hand with a friendly smile. Nobody winced, so she supposed Ben wasn’t trying to prove a point.

“Poe. I work with Rey.” He jerked his head at her, and she met Ben’s eyes for a moment before he released Poe’s hand and nodded.

“You’re welcome to stay and eat,” he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “This group is pretty ravenous, though, so you might want to hurry.”

Poe laughed. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” He glanced at Ben’s grey t-shirt and the fire station logo in the upper left. His eyes lit up. “You a firefighter?”

“Wildfires,” Ben nodded. “Lots of hiking and camping, checking for problem areas.” He turned, his body language inviting Poe to walk with him.

“That’s cool,” said Poe enthusiastically, drawn along toward the food. “My grandpa was a firefighter.”

Rey watched them go, feeling warm and a little awed that Ben was being so polite to Poe. She knew before Ben threw a glance back at her that he would, and she belatedly realized that three of the alphas had stayed behind.

A tall man with slicked-back brown hair and dark stubble settled into Poe’s spot, examining Rey with careful calculation.

Greer cast him an annoyed look and asked for herself and the alpha next to her, “May we join you?”

Rey shrugged. “Sure.”

The man with Greer smiled at Rey as he settled onto the grass. He was elegant and dark-skinned. “Guila Angria, Oregon pack.” He held out a hand, and Rey shook it, having to lean forward across the closer alpha’s personal space to do so. The man took the opportunity to sniff her, and Rey jerked back.

“Gideon Hask,” the rude alpha informed her, his voice holding traces of an accent. “Texas.”

She ignored the hand he offered and glared at him, flushing with embarrassment. She wanted to tell him to keep his sniffing to himself, but she _had_ leaned into his space. It was just all-around awkward.

Then, of course, Starck made it more awkward by shifting closer. “Keep your nose out of her face, man.”

Hask looked Starck over and snorted. “Watch how you talk to your betters, _pup_.”

“When I _find_ one of my betters, I will,” Starck snarked, then pushed to his feet. Hask followed suit, the two of them squaring off.

Rose gave a sharp whistle that made them all wince. “Boys,” she barked. “We are in public. _Sit_.”

Rey saw Ben looking their way. He raised a brow, asking if they needed him, and she rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. He nodded and turned back to Poe.

Once Rose talked the alphas back to a seated position, Rey scooted back toward the tree’s trunk and pulled her phone out to see why it had buzzed in her pocket.

 **Ben:** Everything okay?

 **Rey:** Pissing match. No bloodshed.

 **Ben:** Ugh.

She covered a chuckle and returned her attention to the people with her.

* * *

“Oh my God,” Rose gasped, looking at her phone. A grin broke across her face. “Paige is coming to visit!”

Nix hopped up to peer over Rose’s shoulder. “Really?!” He read the text and grinned. “Tonight?”

Rose nodded. “With her pack leader. He’s curious about what’s going on here.”

Greer tilted her head. “What pack is she in?”

“Minnesota,” Rose replied absently.

Guila from Oregon’s brows rose. “ _Casterfo’s_ pack?”

Hask from Texas rolled his too-blue eyes. “Casterfo is overrated.”

“Ransolm Casterfo,” Greer stated, lifting a finger to imply knowledge and authority on the matter, “is twice as charming as anyone you’ve ever met.” She grinned and glanced impishly at Rey. “Solo is gonna be _pissed_.”

“I’ve heard of that guy,” said Starck, a sour expression crossing his face. “Wasn’t he mated to Carise Sindian?”

“That was a rumor.” Guila from Oregon brushed the information off with a dismissive wave.

Hask snorted. “Carise has alpha-envy. The Sindians have always produced alphas and omegas until her. She’s just a poor little beta.”

Rose glared at Hask. “Hey, now.”

Hask raised his hands. “Nothing wrong with betas. Just sayin’ Carise hates that she’s not special.”

“Again,” Rose said, narrowing her eyes, “ _hey_.”

Finn leaned into Rose and rested his head on her shoulder. “I think you’re special.”

Rose shoved him off with a playful eyeroll, but she was smiling.

* * *

“So, that guy, Ben,” Poe said when he’d returned and the alphas had excused themselves to get seconds and greet a new batch of visitors who’d just arrived. “Nice,” he hurried to say when Rey raised a brow at him. “But like… intense.”

Finn snorted into his potato salad and muttered, “You have no idea.”

Poe cast Finn a glance. “Is this, like, _his_ cookout?”

“Kind of,” said Rey, latching onto the easy excuse. “Everyone helps out, but he set this one up.” She hesitated, then added, “It’s smart to stay on his good side.”

Poe nodded and glanced behind himself where Ben was surrounded by alphas, commanding their attention as he handled introductions. “Yeah. Seems like it.”

* * *

“Who do I talk to if I want to court one of your pack’s omegas?”

Ben stiffened and glanced at Greer, who’d been sitting with Rey earlier. That asshat Starck stood behind her, waiting for Ben’s answer, and the nearby alphas quieted. Ben cursed the shittiness of the situation, that he couldn’t tell them off of _his_ omega. “San Tekka.” Ben jerked his chin toward the white-bearded man sitting with the Wexley’s.

“Thank you,” she said, nodding politely, and walked over toward San Tekka’s table.

Several other alphas followed, including Starck.

“You’re not going to join them?” Ben murmured, arms folded grumpily across his chest as he watched Hask cut in front of Greer, who looked inclined to bite him for his rudeness.

“I have no interest in stepping on your toes,” Guila replied, drawing even with Ben’s shoulder. His eyes twinkled with humor. “I do like your choice, by the way. Unusual, but a nice girl.” He glanced Rey’s way. “Your mother will love her.”

Ben huffed. “She wanted to fly down when she found out. I had to convince her it would make me look weak, like I couldn’t handle my new territory.”

Guila inclined his head. “True.” After a moment, he said, “You could always take the girl to visit. I bet she’s eager to meet them.”

Ben chewed on the inside of his mouth and didn’t answer.

Guila looked at him. “Ben?”

He lowered his voice so it wouldn’t carry, even to werewolf ears. “She doesn’t know.”

“She—” Guila broke off at Ben’s glare and lowered his voice. “She doesn’t know your mother is Leia Organa? _Everyone_ knows your mother is Leia Organa.”

Ben shrugged. “I like the idea of her picking me for me, not for my family.”

“That’s sweet, but you’re an idiot,” Guila replied with a sigh. “If you want the girl, you should use every advantage.”

Ben shrugged again. Guila might be right. “She’ll find out sooner or later.”

* * *

“Don’t know what the big deal is.”

“The big deal is that _Solo_ is interested in her.”

Rey had only stepped away for a moment to catch her breath. She was leaning against a tree, checking her messages, when she heard the voices. She wouldn’t eavesdrop except, well, what did these guys expect? There was no privacy among wolves.

A dismissive grunt. “You couldn’t pay me to take her, not even to show up that asshole.”

The response had a Texas accent. Rey had to dig a moment for a name: Gideon Hask. “She just needs to be shown her place. Keep her tied up on a knot, whelp a couple pups. Train her right, and she’ll be begging for cum every time you step in the door.”

“I don’t want to have to _train_ my omega,” was the reply. “They should already _be_ trained. Their instincts should already be telling them to suck my cock when I come home. I’m telling you, something’s wrong with that one.”

Hask gave a condescending sigh. “Oh, Lank. Lank, Lank, Lank. Dominating them is the _fun_ part.”

Grunt. “I like my omegas obedient.”

A laugh. “I like mine with a little fight.”

“Agree to disagree.”

“Alright.”

* * *

Greer sidled up when Rey found herself alone by the chips a little later. “How’re you holding up?”

“Well, I just heard two alphas talking about me like I’m not even a person, just some sex doll they’re thinking about buying.”

Greer winced. “Ugh.”

“One of them decided I wasn’t worth the asking price, and the other thought I could be trained like a dog.”

Greer’s eyes flashed. “ _Who_ said that?”

Rey shook her head. “I can take care of them. It’s just… a lot.”

Greer sighed and looked at the picked-over food. Eventually, she said, “I asked to court you.”

Rey blinked at her, startled.

It was flattering to have Greer’s attention, but she felt a little like she was tricking Greer, and it made Rey want to fidget.

Not that it couldn’t work, biologically.

Female alphas could ease a female omega’s heat, even if they didn’t have the equipment to completely soothe it. They were more effective with male omegas, who responded better to scenting during heat, and were designed with male omegas in mind, like the lock to the male omega’s key.

But male omegas were as rare as female alphas, and even biology couldn’t overshadow sexual orientation and personal preference.

Greer gave her a sad smile and dissipated all of Rey’s anxiety with her next words. “Even though you’re not into women.”

Rey dropped her eyes, apologetic. “I’m sorry.”

Greer shook her head. “I’m still going to stick around. I think you need a friend right now, someone on your side in all of this, and I’d like to be that for you.”

Rey raised her eyes and smiled shyly. “I’d like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since some of you really like the worldbuilding here, I strongly suggest Patricia Briggs’s _Alpha & Omega_ werewolf series (it’s not ABO style Alpha/Omega, but the pack dynamics and worldbuilding are amazing). STRONG trigger warning: the main character (Anna) endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from her first werewolf pack. At the start of the story, it’s very troubling because some of her abusers are there while she is packing to move to a new, safe pack. The mentions of abuse made me uncomfortable (I read two pages and decided not to buy it, but it stuck with me for months and I picked it up again, and now it’s one of my favorite series). The series doesn’t diminish what happened to Anna, but it shows her as someone who is still moving forward despite her trauma, and I think that’s a lesson we need to see more in stories and media: that women are resilient.
> 
> Less traumatic (for the first few books) is Patricia Briggs's _Mercy Thompson_ series. Still has werewolves, though the scope of pack dynamics isn't quite as broad.
> 
> Inspiration on the courting came from a [Teen Wolf fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4797854/chapters/10980425) where Stiles is being courted by a bunch of werewolf alphas for being a spark (human with magic), but a bunch of the alphas are jerks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been busy being, like, a mom and junk. Playdates, swim lessons. And I'm tellin' ya, children's birthday parties are no joke, y'all.

Ben came that evening, well after the cookout, to drive Rey to the airport separately from her friends, walking to their door this time.

“I have to greet Casterfo anyway,” he explained, glancing past her at the slew of courting gifts San Tekka had brought by earlier, his eyes snagging on a lush arrangement of red roses. He frowned stormily, and Rey did not point out that she’d noticed _he_ hadn’t sent anything.

Not that she cared.

Rey pulled the door shut and followed him to his car, his scent on the passenger seat staining her skin all over again. He didn’t comment on the gifts, and she let him stew in silence. Finally, he spoke, but it wasn’t about the gifts. Instead, he continued their conversation from earlier in the day.

“I picked California because the pack seemed like a good one.

“I traveled for a while after Vancouver. Sniffed around a few packs, talked to some people. I talked to Brance before I challenged him.”

When she glanced at him, surprised, he nodded.

“He told me about the pack, its strengths and weaknesses, what it needed and what he’d done to keep it strong.” He was quiet for a moment, and Rey watched his face as he lost himself in his thoughts. “Brance is a good leader,” he admitted. He looked her way and back at the road. “But he’s not as strong as he used to be.” His mouth firmed. “I knew I could take the pack.”

Anger flared. “So you did it because you _could_?”

“I did it because I wanted the pack,” he corrected as if that was a distinction that mattered. “It seems stable and healthy. And I was ready to take on a pack of my own.” Another quick glance her way. “There are a lot of fixer-upper packs out there, but I don’t want to spend the next ten years untangling a Gordian knot of rivalries and disputes.”

Rey folded her arms across her chest and didn’t even try to keep the judgment out of her voice. “You wanted an _easy_ pack.”

Ben laughed. “No pack is easy, Rey.”

“But Brance—”

“Wasn’t the best choice anymore.” Another glance. “He’s been pack leader for, what, twelve years now? That’s not normal, Rey. Most packs have way higher turnover in leadership than that. It’s not healthy for a pack to keep a leader — no matter how much you like him — when he’s past his prime and there’s a stronger alpha ready to step up. Brance knows that.”

“Strength isn’t the only thing that matters,” she protested. “There’s also experience and trust and—”

“Of _course_ strength matters,” he cut her off. “I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but strength has _always_ mattered.” He shook his head. “We aren’t human, Rey, we don’t form political parties and vote on the guy with the best smile and the tidiest platform.”

“I didn’t say—”

“We’re wolves. We settle things by ripping into each other — literally — and giving power to the one that comes out on top.”

“Strength alone doesn’t make a person fit to lead.”

Ben nodded slowly, eyes tracking a plane in the dim distance ahead as the sun faded from the sky. “Which is how you get messes like the one in Texas, with the territory split between two rival packs.” He frowned. “But strength is what keeps a pack safe. It keeps wolves in line, keeps them from hurting themselves or others. It discourages outside packs from picking a fight. Strength is protection.”

“But if you give too much strength to the wrong person…”

“You get Vancouver,” he said with an acknowledging nod, his mouth tightening. “But part of a pack leader’s strength is the ability to control the pack and use _their_ strength when necessary.”

“Like how?”

“In Vancouver, the wolves weren’t so much loyal as cowed. Some of them were good people, just not strong enough to do anything to help themselves. But they could call for help.”

“They called you.”

A half smile quirked at his mouth. “They called my pack leader. I was getting restless at home, so I was dispatched to check it out. They figured I could take it over if things were really as bad as the wolves said.”

“But you didn’t want to take on a ‘fixer-upper,’” she snarked.

He shot a tight-lipped glance her way. “You can’t judge me for wanting a healthy pack.”

He was wrong. She could judge him for all kinds of things. She told him so with an eloquent _hmph_.

He sighed and rolled his eyes and took the turn for the airport, driving slower as they wound toward the parking ramp.

Once he'd cut the engine, the car tucked into a poorly lit corner of the parking area, he turned just enough to watch her. "Can I kiss you?"

Rey blinked at him, instinctively going to shake her head no as her heart sped up, but found herself nodding yes.

He unbuckled and leaned over, his attention unwaveringly fixed on her face. One of his hands braced on her seatback and the other brushed warm against her knee. "I didn't want to do this earlier," he whispered as he drew close. "Didn't want the scent of slick on you with all those other alphas around." A low growl rumbled through his chest, fading as he brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth.

"Presumptuous," she had the wherewithal to say, her breath shortening as the smell of him filled her head. "Assuming I'd get slick for you."

He dragged his lips to the other corner of her mouth, nipped, and rumbled contentedly. "Should we check?" he offered, toying with the waist of her shorts.

Rey made an embarrassing noise, almost a whine, and felt her muscles relax, her body ready for whatever he wanted to do to it.

"Rey?" he asked again, pulling back to look at her eyes, giving her shorts another tug as she bit her lip, deciding.

The sound of a car door made her jump, the distant noise loud and abrupt to her enhanced hearing. She stared out the windshield, remembering they were still technically in public, and shook her head.

He put up no resistance when she pushed his hand away, just placed it back on her knee and brushed his lips carefully back and forth across her mouth. Rey found herself sinking into the feeling, his lips soft, so soft, how did a man get lips like that? When hers parted, he deepened the kiss with a groan, taking instead of asking.

The hot palm on her knee found her waist, squeezing, and Rey wanted to climb into his lap, grind against him.

He rested his nose against her cheek, and they panted against each other for a moment.

"I can smell how hot you are."

His voice sent shivers down her spine, and he smiled.

"Tell me, Rey." His voice had lowered, deep and intimate. "Did those other alphas make you this wet?"

She shivered again because no, they hadn't. Pulling bravado around herself like a shield, she chose to tweak his tail. "No, but they _did_ smell nice."

Ben snarled into her skin, his grip tightening, and Rey fought a smirk. She had no idea why she wanted to rile Ben, but she did. And she wasn’t even lying — the other alphas did smell nice. All alphas smelled nice to omegas, even the dirtbags.

But scent alone didn’t make her inclined to jump into bed with them, and Ben should know that.

Ben got his breathing under control against her neck, but there was still an edge to his voice when he asked, “Do I at least smell better?”

She stuck her nose against the gland under his ear, making a show of breathing him in, and feeling gratified when his breath just _stopped_ and the scent of his arousal curled through the car. “Hmm,” she murmured as she sat back, tapping one finger against her lips thoughtfully. “About the same.”

The stunned expression on his face made her laugh as she swung out of the car and waited for him to join her, which he did seconds later with a truly childish pout on his face.

She led the way inside, and he hunched his shoulders and followed her.

Once they were in the airport, they checked the board and went to sit and wait for Paige's flight to land. It wasn’t due for another half an hour, and Rey wondered if Ben had brought her early to have time alone with her.

He was still pouting, though, so there wasn’t much conversation to be had.

Finally, Rey had had enough. “Are you really going to stay mad about this?”

He sighed and rubbed the heel of his shoe against the floor. “No. I just…” He shrugged and didn’t look at her. “Hoped you’d like my scent better. Or something.”

Taking pity on him, she reached up and massaged the bone behind his ear, under his hair. It didn’t do much for humans, but in wolf form it felt amazing, and it had psychosomatic properties for werewolves. Ben’s eyes fluttered closed and he tilted his head to give her better access.

Rey let her hand fall to his shoulder and rose to her knees on her crappy plastic chair, nudging Ben to turn his back to her before she dug her fingertips into the tense muscles.

Ben let out an almost indecent moan, making a man playing on his phone glance over and then go back to his phone with raised eyebrows. The waiting area wasn’t busy, small pockets of people here and there with plenty of seats between. No one really paid them any attention as Rey worked the kinks out of Ben’s shoulders, avoiding his neck and the glands that would stain her hands with his scent.

“I do this for Rose and Finn,” she said conversationally as she switched to an elbow and dug it into the meat of his back, just under his right shoulderblade. She knew from experience that bigger muscles required more pressure, and Ben seemed like one thick slab of meat.

He looked at her over his shoulder, eyes half-lidded. If he was anything like her packmates, a good backrub would turn him sleepy and cuddly, like a big puppy. "Does this mean you at least consider me a friend?"

The question was much too low for any humans to hear it, and Rey pressed her thumbs firmly into a spot that made him grunt with relief, his eyes slipping all the way closed. "An ally," she conceded, leaning close under the pretense of digging fingers into his lower back. "Pack."

Ben arched into her touch like a cat, and Rey used her knuckles on the muscles to either side of his spine.

Werewolves might heal from muscle strain, tears, even soreness, but magic didn't care about tension. It wasn't life-threatening.

The soft whir of automatic doors preceded familiar voices raised in excitement.

Rey pulled her hands away from Ben, patting him on the back, and he straightened.

"The others are here," she told him, even though he was already looking that way.

"Mm," he agreed, and stood to face the corner they would round.

He was different when they appeared, stood differently, more formal. They quieted when they saw him.

"I understand your sister is accompanying Casterfo," he said mildly to Rose when the betas approached and stopped.

She nodded, and he returned the gesture.

"I will be honored to make her acquaintance."

Rose smiled, then, and Rey wondered if Ben had any idea how much goodwill he'd just accumulated.

He gestured everyone to the seats and sat back down, spreading his knees and hooking his arms along the seatbacks near him, taking up a truly astonishing amount of space. Rey's friends couldn't sit behind him without bumping into his arms, so they scattered a bit, staying close but not too close. This, she knew, he'd done on purpose, given how different his posture was than when it had been the two of them.

She chatted with her friends for a while, Ben mostly listening as he lounged like a king among them.

Rey stayed beside him, not sure why her instincts insisted on remaining close. Maybe it was because they were about to meet a new alpha. Maybe it was the hypervigilance of the day.

She could admit to herself that she was tired, worn from all the strangers paying attention to her, and felt safe and comfortable here with her pack around her and Ben close enough to touch.

He didn’t move even when the arrivals board showed the plane had landed, though Rose ran to bounce excitedly in front of the doors they would come through.

“They still have to taxi over,” he said with what seemed like amused exasperation. It was only a few minutes later that his phone buzzed in his pocket and he excused himself to answer it.

Rey chose not to wonder if the call was Casterfo letting Ben know they’d arrived and instead joined Rose, whose excitement still hadn’t dimmed.

When the first passenger appeared, Rose squealed and bounced, even though it wasn’t Paige. It was a minute or so later, passengers having to step around them to exit, that Rose started waving madly and jumping up and down. Rey saw an arm raise in the distance and caught sight of Paige walking with a tall, dark-haired man.

“Casterfo’s here. Text me the rest,” she heard Ben say as he walked over. She glanced over her shoulder at him, frowned at his tense jaw, and raised a brow when she caught his eye. He just shook his head and watched the other wolves approach.

The sisters collided in a tangle of limbs and laughter, Nix swooping in to join the hug. Rey waited her turn with Finn, so she got to see the way Casterfo smiled indulgently at them before he held a hand out for Ben.

“Benjamin.”

Ben took the hand. “Ransolm.”

Rey had expected someone charming because of Greer's assessment, but Ransolm Casterfo was also _handsome_. He had dark hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. He was as tall as Ben but willowy where Ben was solid, graceful where Ben was rough-hewn. Beside Casterfo's elegant features, Ben's looked more awkward, more disproportionate, more brutish.

Casterfo smelled like too many humans after being cooped up on an airplane, but underneath Rey caught his pleasant natural alpha scent.

"I've been challenged," Ben said, too low for the humans around them to hear.

Rose and Paige broke apart, turning to look at him, their shoulders going tense.

Casterfo's brow furrowed, but he didn't seem alarmed. "When?"

Ben motioned the group aside, giving them a modicum of privacy as humans strode by or stopped to reunite with their own loved ones.

"Tonight." He looked from Casterfo to Paige and back. "I've invited all of the visiting alphas and their people." Glanced at Nix and Finn. "Pack attendance is mandatory."

"How unusual," Casterfo murmured, eyeing Ben as if he were a puzzle. "Is there a reason you want outsiders at your challenge?"

The challenger's people were allowed, that was a given, but allowing others to watch was rare. Allowing _so many_ outsiders to watch was… unheard of.

"Of course," Ben said and left it at that.

Casterfo hummed but only asked, "Do we have time to shower beforehand?"

Nobody needed an explanation why, and both Paige and Casterfo relaxed a degree when Ben nodded.

Introductions were next, and Casterfo paused when introduced to Rey, eyes lighting with curiosity before Ben’s soft rumble made Casterfo toss Ben a laughing glance and move on.

Ben expressed his pleasure at getting to meet Paige, though his enthusiasm seemed to have been tainted by the somber news of the challenge.

Once introductions were over, they moved as a group toward baggage claim. Paige would be staying with Rose, and Ben had arranged a hotel room for Casterfo. The two pack leaders said their goodbyes once they had Casterfo’s bag, and Rey rode home with her friends, pleased to see Paige but equally distracted by the prospect of Ben’s challenge.

Who was it? Why had Ben invited so many outsiders? What would happen to the pack if one of the awful alphas courting Rey won?

What would happen to Rey?

She resolved, watching the night slide past outside Nix’s van, that if a wolf won who wanted to harass her, she would leave the California pack. Find a pack that would shelter her.

Her heart skipped a beat, the feeling too close to fear to be only excitement.

She’d go to Leia Organa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to the author of _Bloodline_ , Casterfo looks like Tom Hiddleston, who is as tall as Adam Driver but with a very different build.
> 
> As for the discussion on pack leader strength, I wonder if Ben has argued with his mom about that before? Also, how many challenges do you think Leia's had to win to keep her position, as a petite female alpha? Do you think she hoped Ben would take over for her when he came of age or was she happy to see him find his own path?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a while.
> 
> The short explanation is "kids."
> 
> The long explanation is that I let myself fall out of the habit of writing for a bit, and it was too hard to get back into it with the stress of the new school year starting up, new routines, new obligations, new friends, and my 3yo broke her elbow. (It was super sad, but also her little sling was adorable, and she gets the cast off tomorrow.)
> 
> New things trigger my anxiety, so I was basically just trying to stay afloat, like you do.

Anticipation always brought Ben’s wolf close to the surface, magic an impatient buzz under his skin as he paced the clearing shirtless and barefoot. None of the spectators needed more light than the waxing moon provided, and all were silent, watching like shadows among the trees as the combatants prepared themselves.

The challenger got to choose the method of battle. Ben had chosen full shift against Brance, but Hask had picked human skins, their weapons the claws and fangs their human bodies allowed, as if he’d have an advantage this way.

He was wrong.

Ben was hyperaware that Rey was there among the trees with the other omegas, surrounded and protected, eyes fixed on him. He caught her scent, faint and mixed with the rest of the pack, before he lost it again.

_Mate is watching._

Ben flexed his fingers and bared his fangs in a silent snarl, overwhelmed by the threat Hask posed to Rey if he won.

_Protect mate, impress mate._

When they got the signal to begin, he and Hask ran at each other. They clashed and the scent of blood burst into the air. An excited murmur went through the spectators, energy ratcheting up as the scent spoke to everyone’s wolves. By the end of the fight, more than one person would be in their fur.

Hask was tough. He had strength and smarts and wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.

But Ben had learned to fight as a wolf under his mother and as a man under his father.

And his father had never been in a fair fight in his _life_.

Ben stalked the other wolf, taking pleasure in the way Hask backed off with claw marks across his chest.

From the flick of Hask’s eyes, Ben knew the other wolf would go for his groin. Castration was a real danger in fights between wolves courting the same omega. It was frowned upon, and plenty of packs had started taking precautions to prevent it and imposing reparations as a deterrent, but it still happened.

Ben waited for Hask to make his move and dropped down, taking Hask’s claws on his forearm and sinking his own deep into the other wolf's gut. He used Hask’s momentum and his own leverage to flip Hask over his shoulder.

He was on the Texas wolf before Hask had the chance to blink, growling as he dug his claws into all of Hask’s soft spots.

Hask tried to fight back. He got a few good hits in, but Ben had too much weight on him, too much fury. Ben slashed and tore until Hask cried out that he yielded.

Ben got one hand around Hask’s neck, pinning him to the ground, and Hask went limp.

Submitting.

Ben had allowed Brance to live when they’d fought. He respected Brance. Hadn’t wanted to kill him. But no law said he had to spare an opponent in a leadership challenge even after they yielded.

The woods around them were silent, the audience holding its breath and leaning forward to see what he would do.

Perhaps Hask thought that Leia Organa’s son wouldn’t kill a bested opponent lying helpless on the ground.

But _mercy_ wasn’t why Ben had invited all of their guests to watch.

He leaned in, his voice no longer entirely human, rumbling out a soft, intimate growl that no wolf would miss. “She. Is. _Mine_.”

Hask only had enough time for his eyes to widen before Ben’s claws sank into his throat, digging deep just before he stomped on Hask’s ribs and rose, Hask’s head between his hands as he wrenched hard enough for the spine to pop and the flesh to tear until he could throw the head down beside the body, its glassy gaze fixed on the moonlit sky.

Ben looked around the clearing, breathing harshly, hands clawed, his body darkened with blood.

Every pair of eyes dropped, submitting. When all had deferred, he let his head drop back and his wolf rise, and he howled, a sound of triumph and challenge and bloodlust.

Other voices joined in until the howl became something with a life of its own.

* * *

Rey was not the only omega leaking slick when Ben’s eyes fixed on her. She swallowed, wanting him to stalk over, to pin her and take her in the dirt, to mark her and mate her in front of every wolf there.

It was Larma who started ushering the omegas away, Brance who stood between them and their pack leader.

Ben growled his displeasure but didn’t follow, and it wasn’t until she broke eye contact with him that Rey realized she and the other omegas were being watched by the visiting alphas.

Several alphas were tensed as if they wanted to move in, push past the pack surrounding the omegas, and taste, but it was likely the memory of Hask’s head dropping with a dull thud to the grass that kept them at bay.

The pack piled the three of them into Larma’s car, and then Kaydel’s mother was driving them home.

The edge of lust blunted once they were away from the frenzy of the pack and the instinct to bare their throats and present for a powerful alpha. Rey's heart still beat a little too fast, but she had control of herself again as she watched Korrie lower her window and let out a deep, slow breath, as if breathing out all the tension of the last hour.

If Rey were honest with herself, it was a relief she hadn’t been the only omega affected. It meant her instincts were normal. Natural.

They hadn’t reacted this way to Ben's fight with Brance, probably because it had been downright _civilized_ by comparison. (The contrast made her think that maybe she shouldn't have sneered at the old stories Kaydel had told her when they were teenagers about alphas ripping each other to shreds over an omega, and the omega swooning into the victor’s arms. There was clearly something to it.) Though Brance hadn't held back at his challenge, he'd still yielded when bested as if… as if the fight had been a formality. As if the transfer of power had been worked out beforehand.

It made her wonder for the first time if Brance had talked to Ben about the pack _knowing_ Ben was looking to take over. Had he encouraged Ben’s interest?

Had Ben been Brance's choice of successor?

They were out of the woods and the pheromones in the car had mostly dissipated when Korrie turned to Rey and said, “Your next heat is soon?”

Rey nodded, leaning her head back against the seat and closing her eyes. “Two weeks.”

“Are you going to spend it with anyone?” Kaydel asked from the front.

Rey heard the unspoken _Ben_ in Kaydel’s question and shook her head.

“My next one is in a month,” Kaydel continued conversationally, and Rey couldn’t help the way her neck tightened at the thought that Kaydel might invite Ben to her heat. “Dad’s gonna freak out if any of these alphas are still around.”

“How does that work?” Rey said, lifting her head and opening her eyes, distracted by curiosity. “I know relatives don’t react the same way, but… how does it work?” Larma had long ago explained the biology — kids picked scent markers up from each parent, neutralizing the usual effects of designations among close relatives. It was deeper than just scent, though — _genetic_ , Larma had once told her, _cellular_ — because mating bites on family members never took.

“Taslin patrols,” Larma said from the driver’s seat, no judgment in her tone. As the pack’s only medical professional, she was used to answering questions. Especially Rey’s, since she’d been the one to teach Rey what to expect as an omega. “Alpha relatives of an omega in heat will protect the home, drive off other alphas, and provide for the omega. Taslin cooks and does laundry and patrols the neighborhood.”

“He doesn’t really sleep when I’m in heat,” Kaydel added with a grimace.

“He’s busy protecting you,” Larma said, gently patting Kaydel’s hand.

Kaydel slumped into her seat. “I know. I feel bad, though.”

Larma’s hand moved to smooth down Kaydel’s hair. “He’s your dad. It’s his job.”

“Is that typical?” Rey asked eventually.

Larma nodded. “Protect and provide. Alpha instincts at their finest.” After a moment, she said, “It’s different outside the family circle, of course. There’s a sexual element, then.”

Rey hesitated to ask, but she was curious. “So it doesn’t… trigger anything?”

“No, no rut,” Larma said calmly.

“Ew,” Kaydel said with a shudder. “I don’t wanna think about that.”

Larma shook her head. “It’s a perfectly natural question.”

“Yeah, but… ew.”

Rey glanced at Korrie to see what she thought.

Korrie shrugged. “My brother did the same thing before he moved away. He’d jog around the neighborhood and pick me up chocolate from the convenience store down the street.” She smiled fondly. “He was pitiful, hovering around the house as if he wanted to help but didn’t know how.” Her smile grew, and she laughed. “There weren’t any other unmated alphas around, either, so he wasn’t really protecting me from anything. But he felt compelled to patrol all the same.”

“Instinct,” Larma agreed softly.

“He didn’t do laundry, though. Didn’t want to touch his sister’s gross slicked-up bedding.”

Kaydel laughed at that, and Rey wondered what it might be like to have family to help during heats. Larma checked in on Rey during hers, and Rose and Finn made sure she had food and water available (though they otherwise made themselves scarce; friendship only went so far), but it seemed like it would help an omega’s peace of mind to have an alpha patrolling the area, keeping her from harm, or a mother to do laundry and draw cool baths and stroke her hair while she sat wrapped in sweaty, slick-stinking sheets, and to bring her food and drink to stay strong.

Must be nice.

It would also be nice to get knotted by a fat alpha cock for her heats, but there was no way she’d let that happen before she was ready for kids. Heat sex ran too much risk of pregnancy, even with precautions.

When Larma dropped her off at home, Rey found herself alone in the dark house. Without turning on the lights, she started clearing the table of courting gifts, setting the roses aside to be put out back where their cloying scent wouldn’t clog her nose, and rubbed her cheek against the cashmere sweater Greer had sent.

She’d asked San Tekka if wearing the sweater would betroth her to Greer or something, and he’d given her a quick lesson on courting and what was expected of her.

She could give the gifts away if she was circumspect about it, but giving them to another alpha was an insult to the original gift-giver, and giving them to an unmated omega was an insult to that omega.

Wearing Greer’s sweater publicly would be a sign that she favored Greer. She could show favor for any alpha and as many as she wanted, but San Tekka had advised her to be wise about who she encouraged.

Whichever alpha she approached first during social gatherings would also imply favor, and to remain neutral she would have to let the alphas approach her instead.

Letting an alpha scent her was a strong indicator of preference, and Rey had huffed when she’d thought about Ben’s car seat trick but hadn’t said anything because she didn’t actually mind that much.

She _did_ ask if she could just tell the alphas to go away, and he’d gone on about dominance and power structures and hospitality and the wrench that Ben courting her threw into things.

Basically, he was quite long-winded about saying that no, she couldn’t.

Then she asked if Ben could on her behalf, and no, that wouldn’t work because he was courting her.

So she asked if Brance could, and no that wouldn’t work because he didn’t have the authority anymore.

And she asked if San Tekka could, and no, he wasn’t dominant enough.

Then he proceeded to give her a number of utterly useless options to discourage suitors she didn’t like, including but not limited to ignoring them in public and hoping they got the hint. He pointed out that they would obviously leave if she chose a mate, and at that point Rey had wanted to bang her head against the table and cry.

She thought about it all as she tidied the gifts away, putting the ones she wanted to keep in the laundry room to wash — all of them had at least a trace of the gift-giver’s scent on them, and Rey didn’t want those scents contaminating her room — and the rest in a box which she toted to the back door, pushing it open with her hip before she stepped out, walking backwards down the two short steps to the tiny yard and dropping the box against the back of the house. Tall brush hid it from view, and she’d take what she could to the recycling center in the morning.

Rey was upwind of the tallest of the brush, but the faint rustle of grass made her turn in time to see the wolf mid-leap.

A human wouldn’t have stood a chance, and even another werewolf might have hesitated to move before registering the threat, but Rey was already in motion. She’d spent more time in her wolf skin as a pup than in her human skin, and she knew from experience to dodge first and look after. (Mountain lions used to think they could take a scrawny lone pup; they might have succeeded if Rey hadn’t had werewolf healing.)

Rey slashed her claws across her attacker’s side as he came down where she’d been, calculating her odds and coming out with _not good_ with her clothes in the way of a shift. Her best bet was to get back into the house, but the wolf was now between her and the door.

Then, out of nowhere, a brown wolf barreled into it, a smaller russet wolf leaping in from the opposite side, and the air filled with growls and snapping jaws.

Rey wasted no time stripping out of her clothes and shifting, but by the time she leapt into the fray the stranger had fled into the darkness, Finn on its heels as Rose blocked Rey from following.

Rey growled, but Rose bullied Rey into the house, shifting to grab her phone.

Rey could hear Ben on the other end, his clipped response that they would be right there.

“He sent us to make sure none of the alphas followed you home,” Rose said as she hung up. Her round, pleasant face was drawn into frown lines, and when Rey glared at the phone, Rose added, “He did the same with the Sellas and Brance.”

Rey nodded, a bit of the tightness in her chest easing.

Finn was back as soon as he was sure the intruder hadn’t doubled back. He handed Rey her clothes and had time to get dressed and chug a glass of water before the crunch of wheels outside heralded Ben’s arrival.

The three of them gathered on the porch to greet their pack leader.

Casterfo unfolded his long body from the driver’s seat as Paige exited the passenger side and pulled the back car door open. She stumbled back as Ben burst out, huge and black and bowling Rey over, sniffing her and sneezing at her bloodstained fingernails.

Rey pushed her other hand into the fur at his nape, humming instinctively to soothe his growling.

She let him scent her, rub his face and throat over her shoulders and face and against her neck until Casterfo pointedly cleared his throat.

Ben stepped back, hovering so close that Rey thought she might trip over him as she pushed herself to stand.

Finn held the door open for them all, casting a glance around the quiet street to see if anyone was paying too much attention. Rey followed his gaze and didn’t see anyone, but Ben was crowding her into the house so she didn’t have much time to look.

“I’m not hurt,” she said softly as he sniffed at her fingers again, familiarizing himself with her attacker.

“Excellent,” said Casterfo, his eyes on Ben, a brow raised in amusement. “Was anyone else injured?”

Rose shrugged. “Just a bite.” When Paige went to fuss over her, she rolled her eyes and added, “It’s mostly healed.”

Rey narrowed her eyes at the scent of her friend’s drying blood. She’d had too much of the stranger’s scent in her nose and hadn’t noticed it.

Casterfo took off his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt. “Solo and I will track him. If you four would remain here?” He sent an uncompromising look to Paige, who inclined her head deferentially.

Rey glanced politely away as Casterfo shucked his clothes. Nudity didn’t bother her, but it was impolite to stare.

Finn let the alphas out the back and locked up after them while the sisters checked the windows to make sure they were closed and locked. It wouldn’t keep out a determined wolf, but it would slow one down long enough for them to shift.

Casterfo and Ben were back half an hour later, Casterfo pulling his clothes back on as Ben jumped next to Rey on the couch and settled his warm furry head in her lap.

“You lost him, then?” Paige asked softly.

Rey threaded her fingers in Ben’s fur as he gave a cranky huff.

“We got his scent,” Casterfo replied as he fastened his slacks. “Seems like he got into a car several blocks away.”

Rey hummed her understanding. Cars were impossible to track by scent.

“It wasn’t any of our visitors?” Rose asked, putting the kettle on without asking because she knew Rey would want tea instead of the coffee she’d already started (one of the many reasons Rey loved her).

Ben whuffed a negative, and Rey scratched her nails across his scalp. His tail wagged once, slow, then went still, his body radiating the tension of a failed hunt.

“Coffee or tea?” Rose asked Paige.

“Better go with tea.”

Casterfo looked up from buttoning his shirt. “What flavors do you have?”

Rey focused on the soft length of Ben’s fur as Rose told Casterfo their options.

“Earl Grey, chamomile… orange pekoe.”

Rey pursed her lips thoughtfully and glanced at Rose. “Do we still have any of that peppermint blend, or did we drink it all?”

Rose pulled a familiar tin from the cupboard and shook it. The hollow sound of a few tea leaves skittering against the bottom answered her.

Rey wrinkled her nose. “Probably not enough, then.” She bent to murmur, almost too low for sound, “Do you want anything to drink?”

Ben responded by lifting up and draping his front half heavily across her lap. Rey grunted at the weight of him and bit back a laugh at how ridiculous she must look with a huge werewolf trying to act like a lapdog.

“I’ll have chamomile,” she called to Rose.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep for a while,” said Finn, blowing out a breath and coming around the couch for the remote. “Anyone up for a movie?”

“Sure,” Rey murmured, finding that magic spot behind Ben’s ear that made his tail thump against the cushions.

“I’ll stay for tea,” Casterfo said, voice laced with laughter. “But I’ll head for my hotel after. I imagine it will be a _bit_ less crowded.”

“It wouldn’t be any bother if you want to sleep here,” Rose insisted, but Rey wasn’t so sure. Ben still seemed tense and, if Rey were honest with herself, the scent of a strange alpha in her home was setting her on edge.

“Still,” said Casterfo, leaning against the kitchen counter as the kettle began softly hiss, well away from where Ben was sprawled on top of Rey. Casterfo was watching them, his mouth quirked up on one side.

Rey’s fingers tightened in Ben’s fur, and he shifted to press harder against her. A low, barely audible growl rumbled in his chest.

Casterfo raised his hands, palms out to show he wasn’t a threat, and grinned. “Or I’ll just go now.”

Paige frowned and the sisters tried to argue with him, Finn turning to watch from where he’d been clicking through Netflix, but Casterfo just squeezed the back of Paige’s neck with fond affection and made his goodbyes.

“Call me tomorrow when you get the chance,” he told Ben from across the room, then slipped out the front and into the night.

Finn turned the volume on the TV down (one of the crappy parts of being a werewolf was that the volume humans liked the TV at tended to hurt their ears) and put on “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” probably assuming that their usual more violent favorites would be a bit much on top of the events of the night. He started turning off lights, and everyone gathered their drinks and settled in to watch the movie.

Ben took up most of the couch, so Rose and Paige piled together in an old comfortable armchair, and Finn sat in the floor.

Rey finished her tea and found herself almost swaying with exhaustion as she set her cup aside. The tension she’d been carrying for hours had finally faded, and the relief hit her like a suckerpunch.

Deciding she could definitely be more comfortable, she got up and put her cup in the sink, not surprised to hear the quiet tap of Ben’s claws on the floor behind her. She let him follow her while she made sure her bedroom door was closed tight, and let him wait in the hall while she stepped behind the bathroom door and stripped.

When she nosed out, the comfort of being in her fur gave her a short burst of energy, and she pounced on him.

Ben went down easily, rolling under her to show his belly and play-snapping at her legs as she walked across him and back to the living room. She curled up on the floor because while the couch _could_ comfortably accommodate two wolves, it seemed rude to make Finn keep sitting on the floor when her wolf form didn’t mind it.

Ben approached hesitantly and curled around her as if he thought she might turn and nip him, but she only let out a soft sigh when he settled hot against her back. The sigh seemed to encourage him, because there was no hesitation in the way he hooked his muzzle over her neck, burying his nose in the fur under her chin.

A flash made Rey lift her head. She stared at Rose for a moment, her friend grinning as she lowered her phone.

“Your grandkids will thank me,” Rose informed Rey pertly and showed the picture to Paige, who smiled at it.

Rey’s throaty grumble mingled with Ben’s pleased hum, and she chose to ignore everyone in favor of closing her eyes and drifting off surrounded by the scent of pack and the sound of Matthew Broderick’s cheeky narration.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Halloween was amazing, and I wanted a werewolf chapter out to commemorate it. Unbeta'd, and I had a headache this morning while proofreading because we trick-or-treated _hard_ with the kids yesterday, but hopefully it's okay. :)

Rey woke at the sound of the back door softly opening and shutting. She was warm, surrounded by fur. Raising her head, she found her friends had gone furry and joined the puppy pile in the floor.

Ben was missing at her back, and it surprised her that she hadn't woken when he left.

A peek out the window showed him rounding the house in the predawn, ears scanning and tail neutral.

Checking for danger.

Rey smiled to herself and went to start coffee.

By the time she brought two mugs and a pair of Finn's oversized sweats out to the back steps, the house behind hers had begun to stir.

Ben appeared not long after she settled herself with her mug between her palms. She watched him shift and pull Finn's sweatpants on.

He radiated heat when he sat next to her, picking up his mug and sipping. Their arms brushed together.

"All clear?"

He nodded.

They sat, quiet and easy, looking out at the dubious scrub and trees beyond the yard.

Ben broke the silence after a while. “What’s with the box?”

Rey followed his glance. “Courting gifts I’m getting rid of.”

His brows rose, and he got up to fetch it, settling back onto the steps with it between his feet.

“What are you doing?”

His voice was slightly muffled as he bent to dig through the rejected gifts. “Seeing what _not_ to get you.”

Rey watched him recoil at a blanket someone had _drenched_ in alpha scent. She’d had the same reaction. “I kept all the food, and the cashmere.”

He looked up at her, frown line pinching between his brows. “Who gave you cashmere?”

She leaned back on one elbow. “Why? You want to rip their head off, too?”

He paused, met her eye. They were quiet for several long seconds, trying to decipher each other, before Ben spoke.

“It wasn’t about you.”

Rey scoffed, and he raised a hand.

“It wasn’t _only_ about you.”

“Do tell.” Rey took a sip of her coffee.

He shrugged. “The alphas are here because of me.”

“Thanks for that,” she interjected, the irritation only half feigned.

Ben laughed and lifted his coffee toward her in a casual toast. “Deepest apologies.” He tilted his head back to look at the lightening sky. “A lot of them are here to challenge me. Most just by going after _you_ , but Hask wasn’t the only one planning to challenge for pack leadership.” He turned his head and fixed a serious look on her. Rey felt caught by his eyes, by the intensity there, and she forgot to breathe for a moment. “Now they’ll think twice. They know what I’m capable of, that I’m willing to kill. More than that, they know I’ll kill anyone who tries to take the pack to get to _you_.” He shrugged and looked back at the box between his feet. “One life to prevent future deaths is more than worth it.”

He made it sound so tactical, and Rey was almost ready to drop it, except… “You enjoyed it.”

Ben slid a heavy-lidded look her way. “So did you.”

Her breath caught. He’d smelled her. “I—”

“It’s okay,” he said, expression softening into a gentle smile. His free hand rested on her wrist. “Instinct is what it is. You don’t have to defend yourself to me.”

She ducked her head, embarrassed. “I don’t usually go around getting turned on by beheadings.”

He removed his hand and turned his face toward the trees. “I don’t usually go around beheading people.”

Rey rested her head against his shoulder, enjoying the scent of pack and safety and Ben. “Vancouver begs to differ.”

Ben laughed, jostling her. “Yeah, okay.”

They sat like that for a long time, the scent of morning drifting across them. She could smell the grass the man across the road had cut yesterday, and the fresh dew on her flowers out front. Rey listened to the sound of a neighbor’s creaky back door as they let their dog out. “I’m not yours,” she said softly.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head, voice muffled by her hair and deepened by an emotion she didn’t want to name. “I know.”

A bird woke up in the sycamore tree a few houses down. “Can’t you tell them you’re not interested anymore? Make them go away?”

He took a deep breath, and her cheek moved with it. “If I thought it would work, I’d lie for you. But it won’t.”

Her eyes filled. She felt helpless. “This isn’t fair.”

Ben turned and cupped her face tenderly in his hands, brushing at her tears with his thumbs. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

She sat back and swiped at her face. “You’re not going to tell me you can solve all my problems if I just let you mate me?”

She sounded bitter.

It bothered her that she sounded bitter.

“That’s not what you want,” he said, his eyes soft and sad.

“So you _do_ listen.” She offered him a watery smile to take the sting out of it.

He rubbed the spot behind her ear that made most werewolves melt and smirked when she let out a long, relieved sigh. “They won’t court you forever. Especially not to this degree. Most will give up and move on after a while.” His smile turned self-deprecating. “We alphas are a conceited bunch. It’s too humbling to court an omega who doesn’t want them, so they’ll stop eventually.”

“But not you?”

He looked away, mouth drawn down at the corners, voice soft and heartbreakingly vulnerable. “I don’t know, Rey. I’ve never felt like this before. Never courted anyone. Never wanted something this badly.”

“So, what, I’m going to be old and grey and telling you to get lost?” She said it lightly, like a joke, and it made him laugh.

When he looked at her, she noted that his eyes were a little wetter than they had been. “I certainly hope not.” He licked his lips and turned his mug in his hands. “If you choose someone else — or just tell me to leave you the hell alone — I’m not… I’m not going to harass you, Rey, or kill your mate. I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable.” His eyes were dark and focused, utterly distracting. “But I need you to know what I have to offer.” He gestured with his mug. “That’s what courting _is_. What it’s supposed to be, at least.”

That made her feel better enough that she couldn’t help teasing him. “And you have beheadings to offer?”

His exaggerated groan made her laugh, but then he leaned close and nudged her temple with his nose. “I will kill anyone who threatens you. No exceptions.” It sounded like a vow, almost too solemn.

She shivered and turned her face to let his mouth move hot over hers. He tasted like coffee. She probably did, too.

When they drew apart, she murmured, “That’s assuming I don’t kill them first.”

Ben grinned and kissed her again. “This is why I like you.” His hand spread against her lower back, and he nuzzled her cheek. “So fucking fierce.”

Rey smiled and elbowed him lightly, eyes narrowed. “You’re not patronizing me, are you?”

He met her eyes, brows raised and a smile still playing on his mouth. “I would honestly be _afraid_ to patronize you.” Rey snorted, and his eyes twinkled, though he made an admirable attempt at deadpan. “You threatened to wear that kid’s intestines as a _belt_ , Rey.”

She burst into laughter, surprising herself. A little coffee sloshed out of her mug because she wasn’t paying attention to how far it had tilted, and she moved her foot with a mild curse. It wasn’t hot anymore, at least.

Ben’s hand ran up and down her back.

Rey licked a residual bit of coffee off the side of her mug, and his hand stopped. When she looked at him, his eyes had caught on her mouth, cheeks flushed. He looked startled and smelled…

_Mm. Alpha._

Rey sat up, putting a little space between them, and Ben snapped out of it enough to do the same. They were quiet for a few minutes, finishing their coffee as the sleepy neighborhood began to stir, more dogs being let out, birds coming to life, squirrels scratching around. A garage door hummed in the distance, some poor soul going to work on a Sunday with the soft crunch of tires.

“Last night,” she murmured and felt Ben’s attention sharpen. “The attack. None of the guests at the challenge could have made it back that fast. And cell reception up there is nonexistent. There’s no way they could have coordinated something.”

“The attacker was lying in wait,” Ben agreed. “But that doesn’t mean none of our guests arranged it.”

Rey hummed and nodded. She didn’t ask why she was a target. She had no illusions that the alphas courting her were targeting her to get to Ben. This was just a different tactic. What she _didn’t_ know, and what she’d very much like to find out, was whether the attacker had meant to kill her… or mate her.

The result was the same, though. She’d kill anyone who tried.

Rey sniffed at the faint remnants of blood under her nails, noting the warm alpha notes designed to comfort her. Rey filed this specific scent into _enemies_ and frowned, nails against her nose as she memorized it.

“We’ll find him,” Ben assured her. He sounded confident even as he radiated concern. “In the meantime, promise me you’ll be careful?”

“I can handle myself.”

He nosed at her temple. “Which is why I’m not assigning you a round the clock guard. Just be aware of potential traps, okay?”

“Wolves aren’t even ambush predators,” she complained, which wasn’t a no. Ben was right that she should keep her eyes open.

He stretched his long legs out, knees popping, and ran a hand through his hair. "I have to figure out a way to keep the visiting wolves busy today. Thank God most of them will be heading home tonight."

Rey raised a hopeful brow at him. "For good?"

Ben snorted and smirked. "Some for good. Others will be back next weekend." He shrugged. "The nine to five grind doesn't stop for courtship."

"Or being attacked in your backyard."

"Mm. You work on Sundays?"

"Closed on the weekend," she said with relish. She’d worked a number of crap jobs as a teenager, nights and weekends, and had been been fired from a fast food job when her manager tried to force her to come in on a full moon after she’d told him she couldn’t.

It was a common problem for their kind, balancing work with their special circumstances. Rey could now take vacation days for heats, and it was glorious. Other jobs had _not_ been as accommodating.

She really loved the center; it had great hours and policies, and her boss was fantastic. Poe could charm anyone — from little kids to sweet old grannies — and he always made the center more lively with his music and chatter.

“How are your hours at the station?” she asked, nudging Ben with her knee.

“Flexible,” he replied. “I fill in when someone is sick, but mostly I patrol the forests and do preventative work.” He tossed her a wry grin. “Being a werewolf makes it easier — I move faster and don’t have to carry as much gear — but there’s a lot of time-consuming grunt work: cutting fireline trenches, thinning vegetation, doing controlled burns. All of it by hand because you can’t get big equipment back there.”

Rey smiled at the thought of his wolf patrolling the forest with a backpack in his teeth. It made sense, though, that he would be out in nature whenever he could. Most werewolves were environmentally conscious, since they spent so much time in nature and wanted to preserve as much forested territory as possible, and preferred working outdoors. Norra Wexley was a park ranger, and Korrie was studying environmental law.

Rey did her bit by speaking at schools and to community groups about the importance of recycling and appropriate waste disposal whenever Poe couldn’t do it, and she harped at her pack about rinsing recyclables because milk jugs weren’t even processed _in her building_ and spoiled milk still seemed to make its way past the stink of household cleaners to linger in her nostrils for days.

Rey inhaled deeply, preferring the scent of alpha and coffee and grass. In the house, she heard someone gently close a door, then the clink of porcelain. She focused on Ben’s breathing, trying to give whomever was in the bathroom some privacy.

“I’m sorry this turned into such a clusterfuck,” he murmured.

“It’s okay,” she replied, and she decided not to wonder if that was a lie or not. It was okay right then, in the morning and the quiet with him there smelling like contented alpha.

The toilet inside flushed, the sink ran, and Rey closed her eyes and let Ben run his lips over hers, gentle and sure.

She didn’t want to think. Just for a little while.

* * *

They eventually bestirred themselves to get showered and dressed, and Ben got his car back from Casterfo, who chose to spend the day with Paige and Rose instead of joining them on the hike Ben had arranged for their alpha visitors. Casterfo cited the fact that he and Paige would be in town for the week, so he could just talk to Ben later, when there were fewer guests to entertain.

Ben ordered Rey into the car when she tried to stay home. Stress and worry hung thick in his scent as he drove, and he ran his knuckles along her arm as if to reassure himself she was there and safe.

Rey didn’t remind him that she didn’t need a bodyguard. She didn’t argue that she had the right to stay home if she wanted to. So soon after the attack, his instincts were demanding that he keep her by his side, and Rey understood the obnoxious and irresistible sway of instinct. Even as a pup, she’d recognized it in the way her body sprang into motion at the sight of prey in the underbrush. How sometimes her brain had reengaged only at the feel of blood and fur between her teeth.

Later, she’d gotten a more visceral lesson on instinct when her heats had started, the total loss of control terrifying. She’d had Larma to guide her by then, to explain what she was going through, but the descriptions were clinical and tidy and _nothing_ like the real thing.

Instinct didn’t govern her now the way it had as a child, when she’d needed it to survive, but that didn’t make the urges any less powerful. She’d struggled hard against them as a teenager, and it had only been in the last year or two she’d learned how to live more or less peacefully with her inner omega. She accommodated and indulged the instincts that did no harm, like her need for contact and soft things and building a perfect nest. She resisted the ones she hated, but they were still there. It would feel good to give in. But… she refused to make life decisions based on her body’s reactions. That would be dumb.

Her body liked Ben. She liked him in other ways, too. He was pack and had proved himself trustworthy. He listened, and she liked talking with him. Silence with him was comfortable.

But liking an alpha didn’t mean she was ready for a mate.

When they arrived at the trailhead, Rey found she was not the only omega going on the hike. She wasn’t too surprised to see Korrie talking to Guila from Oregon, her aunt a few feet away, acting as chaperone.

No, the surprising thing was that Starck approached with an omega at his side, a swagger in his step that made Rey wonder hopefully if he’d taken a mate.

But he introduced the young woman as his sister, and she shook Rey’s hand in a firm, friendly grip.

“I’m Tallie. Strom called me because apparently he’s been putting his fat foot in his stupid mouth because he’s an idiot.”

“Hey!” Starck protested, looking comically betrayed as Rey tried to muffle a laugh with her hand.

Tallie rolled her eyes at her brother. “I’m teasing, dumbass.” She turned back to Rey with a conspiratorial smile. “I’ve seen him go courting before. Is he crashing and burning as hard as he did then?”

“Worse,” Ben chimed in as he stepped up to Rey’s side, standing perhaps a bit too close.

Tallie’s gaze turned sharp and assessing as she looked at Ben. “You’re Ben Solo.”

He nodded. “The same.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Tallie smiled slyly at him, and Rey stiffened.

Tallie’s gaze snapped to Rey, and she looked between the two of them before taking a subtle step back, expression smoothing into amusement. “It was nice meeting you,” she said to Rey. Glanced at Ben, and the corners of her mouth deepened. “Both.” She took another step back and turned to her brother. Patted him on the arm. “You don’t stand a chance.” She walked away and left him spluttering in her wake.


	7. Chapter 7

Going to work the next week was a relief after spending the entire weekend surrounded by alphas, and Rey let herself revel in Poe’s humanness. He couldn’t smell her emotions or how close she was to her heat or whether she was on her period or if she’d masturbated last night. (She hadn’t. Ben had stayed over again, in wolf form, presumably to guard the house, and it was hard enough to get off without being overheard by her normal beta friends, much less an alpha on alert.)

The alphas all went home to their jobs and lives, and Ben assured Rey that some of them would stay away, having satisfied their curiosity.

Rey could read between the lines: some would be back. Maybe even some new ones, to gawk and hover and make her uncomfortable.

But at least no one else had challenged Ben.

* * *

Ben gave her a few days to breathe before he brought his next courting gift: tender cuts of lamb wrapped in butcher’s paper and a slab of farmer’s market bacon. He watched her unwrap it with a satisfied smile, hands in his pockets.

She rolled her eyes at him but smiled, and he looked incredibly smug.

At least until Rose knocked her shoulder into him and told him that if he was going to keep spending the night, it was his turn to make dinner.

He pulled his keys back out and sighed. “Burgers okay?”

“We’ll text you our orders,” Rose said, nudging Finn to agree.

Ben nodded, then glanced at Rey, fiddling with his keys somewhat awkwardly. “Would you like to come?”

 _Yes_ , she thought immediately, then squashed that thought before it could transfer into her scent; unfortunately, she saw his nostrils flare and his jaw tense, and her cheeks heated. She put his gifts away in the fridge before joining him with a quiet, “Sure.”

Ben took her hand once they were on the porch and tugged her to his car.

Inside, he slid his hand around the back of her neck and lightly squeezed. It was different from the way Casterfo had touched Paige’s neck — that had been a proprietary touch but nonsexual, as it had been far enough away from Paige’s mating gland. Brance had scented Rey like that plenty when she’d been younger and more vulnerable, when touch had grounded her and made her feel more connected to the pack, the small gesture reinforcing a vital link.

Ben’s touch was nothing like that. His fingers brushed her glands, ghosting close enough to her mating gland that she felt the heat of his hand, leaving her with fire in her veins and slick in her panties.

“You want to come, Rey?”

She squirmed in her seat, unconsciously seeking friction. “Ben.”

“You want me to make you come? Is that what my sweet, dirty omega wanted in there in front of all her little friends? For me to bend you over the table and make you come?” He squeezed harder, a warning and a promise, and she went limp as her instincts barked at her to submit.

He leaned over, speaking straight into her ear, his hot breath making her shiver. “I’m not going to. Not until you ask.”

It was such an _alpha_ thing to say that she huffed a short, too-breathy laugh and said, “Are you sure you don’t mean ‘beg’?”

Ben narrowed his eyes like he sensed a trap, and he carefully released her neck, leaning back enough to give her breathing room. “Asking is fine,” he said, still wary, “but I won’t argue if you _want_ to beg.”

Rey laughed again, coming down from the high of his touch. Her voice was still breathier than she liked, but her brain snapped back to working order quick enough. “Well, I’m not going to do _either_ in a car, so roll your window down and let’s go get dinner before Rose comes out and yells at us for taking too long.”

He started the car, obviously still affected but making an admirable attempt at normalcy. “She’s scary when she’s hungry, huh?”

Her heart started slowing as she forced a light laugh. “You have no idea.”

* * *

They were talking about flowers when they got back with the food. Ben had asked why she didn’t like roses, and then he’d asked what flowers she _did_ like, and that was a subject Rey could happily expound on at length.

So she did.

She told him how her favorite cut flower was sunflowers, and her favorites for planting were local wildflowers because they reminded her of the forest. He actually recognized a few when she described them, though not by name.

“I’d _like_ to plant more, but the landlord is stubborn about how much we’re allowed to change the landscaping,” she said as she held the door open for him to carry the bags in.

Rose bounded forward to take a bag from Ben. Paige was already at the kitchen table.

“Rey would make the front yard into a miniature wilderness if she could,” said Finn.

“I would make _the world_ into a miniature wilderness if I could,” she corrected, following Ben to the table and helping him unpack the food. Rose had found the fries and Finn’s hamburger, which she’d handed to Finn. Rey found Paige’s burger and handed it over.

“How would you go about that?” Ben asked, letting Rose take the second bag from him to find her burger. When Rey tilted her head in question, he clarified. “Landscaping the front yard. If you were allowed.”

He friends shared a look, but Rey ignored them, too busy glowing with excitement. She grabbed Ben’s hand and tugged him away from the table, toward the front door. “I’ll show you.”

* * *

By the time they got back inside, the food was cold and Rey was full of energy.

“I mean it,” Ben was saying. “You should start your own landscaping company.”

“It’s just a hobby,” she protested.

“That you’re obviously passionate about.”

Rey found her burger and unwrapped it, mind still buzzing with all the plans she wished she could work into the front yard. The fries were long gone, her friends piled on the couch and their empty burger wrappers stuffed in the trash, but her food still tasted good. Once she’d chewed and swallowed, she said, “Too many people would want flowers with fragrance. It’d give me a headache.”

Finn glanced over the back of the couch, “Like your job now smells any better.”

Rey inclined her head, giving him that one.

“Aren’t there flowers that don’t smell?” asked Ben, biting into his own burger. Neither of them bothered to sit down.

“Absolutely. And if you go to a nursery, you can find strains of popular plants that don’t have as much scent, so you can get the smell but in werewolf-friendly doses. Like the lavender I have in my room—” She set her food down and whirled around. “Hang on, let me grab it.”

When she returned with the potted plant and set it on the kitchen table, Ben was smiling at her, this little quirk to his lips like he found her adorable. He obediently leaned forward to sniff the plant and nodded, looking at it curiously.

“It has a stronger scent when it blooms properly — it’s a bit sparse right now — but lavender is soothing, and I like the way it mixes with the fresher scents of my ivy and ferns. I have a lot of succulents with barely any scent at all, though I had to get rid of one a year or so ago when it bloomed and smelled like death.” She waved her hands when he laughed. “No, literally, it smelled like carrion. It’s to attract flies for pollination. I had to wash everything and leave my window open to air things out. Took ages to smell normal in there again, and now I double check my succulents online to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

He cocked his head, wolflike. “What’s a succulent?”

Rey opened her mouth and closed it, blinking at him. “Um.” Because she was suddenly faced with a decision that she wasn’t entirely sure about.

She _could_ bring out a few succulents to show him.

 _Or_ she could let him into her room.

The idea was intimate in a way that she wasn't comfortable with, something she’d never considered before.

She barely let _Finn and Rose_ into her room, and they knew not to touch anything. Everything was just so, because her room was where she let her instincts free, no matter how ridiculous they sometimes seemed.

It belonged to her omega.

And her omega _loved_ the idea of letting Ben inside.

It was enough to set her on edge, make her wary. She ate silently as she untangled her feelings from her urges and her common sense, trying to decide if it was safe to let an alpha into her private space.

Finally, she stuffed the rest of her burger in her mouth and chewed because she might be having an internal crisis but she was still a werewolf, damnit, and she wasn’t going to let food go to waste.

Ben was watching her quietly, and she realized he hadn’t interrupted her train of thought this whole time. More of his food had disappeared as well, but he set down what was left when, decision made, she inclined her head for him to follow her.

She could feel her friends paying attention, even Paige, though they hadn’t turned from the TV. They knew she didn’t let people in her room, and they knew why, and they knew that this was… kind of huge for her.

As she reached her door, the omega in her fluttered awake and shot her through with anxiety. She wanted to duck in first and dither over pillow positions before she let Ben in, but Rey pushed the urge aside, opened her door, and flipped the light on. She had a dimmer switch for her heats, when she wanted low light, but now she turned it up as bright as it could go.

“Don’t touch anything,” she told him, and then watched Ben carefully, anxiety spiking when he stopped in the doorway, eyes wide and unfocused like he’d run into a wall. His nostrils flared, and a slight shudder ran through him before he stepped carefully inside.

He looked around as if in a daze, swallowed, and took another step in.

Rey closed the door behind him, and he looked at her. His pupils were large and dark, swallowing up the iris, and his tongue darted out to wet his lips. “Smells like you in here,” he admitted huskily.

He was in his socks, and she was barefoot. She’d noticed before that he automatically took his shoes off when he went indoors, and she appreciated that he wasn’t wearing them now. Rey didn’t like dirt on her bedroom rug, since it was a pain and a half to clean all that plush, shaggy softness.

“It’s my nest,” she whispered, unable to look away from him. She bit the tip of her thumb as he glanced around, probably looking for a traditional circle of blankets, so she added, “The room. The whole thing is my nest.”

His eyes jerked back to her, widening, and he looked around again with intent, taking in every detail. Everything was placed with precision and meaning, and she had to clamp her lips together to keep her needy omega hindbrain from asking if he liked it.

He hesitated with his fingers a breath away from the alpaca fur blanket on the round chair where she liked to curl up and nap in wolf form. He looked at her for permission. When she hesitantly nodded, he trailed his fingers delicately over the surface, barely ruffling the fur. The feel of things was as integral to a nest as the color and scent, and Rey was pleased that he understood. She was even more pleased, as he carefully touched blankets, pillows, even plants with just the tips of his fingers, that he wasn’t scenting anything. He was touching but not leaving a mark, not disturbing her work or imposing himself on the space.

She’d arranged pillows on the floor to curl up in during heats, a welcoming combination of color and softness. The plants added life and freshness, lavender softening the brighter scents into something that calmed her omega. She’d curated the greenery to feel just on the edge of wild, filling blank spaces without overwhelming or overshadowing other aspects of the room.

She had painted the walls a rich brown a few months back, trying to warm the space, and had extra blankets everywhere: draped over her bed, rolled into a basket, and still more folded away in her closet.

Rey watched Ben with her back against the door, twisting her hands together, until he stopped by her bed and stared down at it, fingers trembling. He asked huskily, “Could we open the window?”

Rey jerked, realizing the tension in his shoulders and the ridge in his pants were signs that he wasn’t having as easy a time as she’d thought. “Yes. Of course.” She hurried to the window and brushed the curtains aside, unlocking the frame to push it as open as it would go. She did the same with her smaller bathroom window, getting a crossbreeze going.

When she returned to her bedroom, Ben was looking at the plants on her windowsill, taking deep breaths of fresh air with his arms folded across his chest. He glanced toward the bed, his posture already more relaxed, and nodded at the knit blanket draped across the foot. “Is that the cashmere you got?”

Rey glanced at the blanket, forest-green threads shot through here and there with grass green. “No, that was a sweater. The blanket I saved up for, but it was worth every penny.” She shrugged when he looked at her. “I spend all my extra money on…” She gestured around the room.

“On your nest,” he finished for her, quietly.

Rey nodded and indicated the cluster of small, smooth plants he’d been looking at. “Those are succulents. By the way.”

“Ah.” He gently caressed the edge of one.

His eyes caught next on her bookshelf by the closet. It was too far for him to read the titles, but he didn’t move away from the window.

“You have your heats here?”

It wasn’t entirely a question, more like he was looking for confirmation of something he already knew.

Rey decided to let the rudeness of the question slide. “Yeah.”

He nodded, jaw clenching and relaxing. He didn’t look at her. “There’s a lingering scent. Around your bed. Old, but there.”

Rey looked at her bed in surprise. It had been almost three months since her last one, and she’d thought the slick she’d gotten on her mattress would have dissipated by this point. “Oh.” When she glanced back at Ben, he was watching her, intense, his mouth soft and almost pouty.

“My Aunt Amilyn has a recipe she swears by to get scents out of things,” he said, swallowing thickly. “I could get it for you.”

Rey nodded and suppressed her omega’s hurt that he’d want to get rid of the scent of her slick. “Thank you.”

“Not that it’s… I mean, it’s not _bad_. It’s nice. Just… it might distract any other… guests.”

“Oh, I don’t—”

His brows rose, and he looked at her like maybe he knew how that sentence would have finished. “You don’t?”

“I—” She shook her head. “I don’t.”

He nodded jerkily and turned his face back to the window, shoulders relaxing.

She stood and moved to the other side of the window, and he glanced at her, gaze going limpid as she reached out a hand, pinkie finger extended. Carefully, he reached and hooked his pinkie around hers.

Rey watched a squirrel in the tree outside and bit her lip on a smile.

* * *

Rey nearly bit Poe’s finger when he stuck it in her mouth during her fifth jaw-breaking yawn of the morning.

She didn’t, of course. First, because she didn’t want to hurt him. Second, because werewolves might need to bite while shifted to change someone, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

Instead, she jerked back (he hadn’t even touched her, it was just super weird) and muttered, “ _Rude_.”

He crossed his arms and smirked. “Up late?”

She tried to stop herself from smiling back at him and failed. She and Ben had stayed up most of the night, mostly just talking. The edge of her window frame smelled like him now because he’d leaned against it, and she had no illusions that she’d be pressing her face up against the hard surface next time she wanted to get off.

He’d told her how he thought the pack he’d grown up in had expected him to take over when he came of age. “At least half of the pack used to babysit me.” He’d shaken his head. “When you grow up in a pack, it’s harder for them to see you as an adult. They remember the first time I got an erection on a run, and the time I copped a squat in the corner during a pack meeting and embarrassed the hell out of my mother.”

She’d covered her mouth and tried not to laugh. “Oh no.”

He’d nodded, lips twitching. “In my defense, I was very little, and in wolf form.”

She’d buried her face in her hands.

“They still bring it up at holidays.”

“I don’t remember much about my parents,” she’d replied. “I lived with the Brances after I came here until I presented, and then I lived with some betas until Paige was old enough to get her and Rose their own place. I moved in with them, and Brance gave Paige an allowance for my upkeep until I was eighteen.” It was part of the pack leader’s job, making sure wolves had a roof over their head and enough to eat. Brance had helped wolves find work. He’d talked to wayward juveniles until they’d gone back to school.

“Where were you before all that?”

She’d looked out into the dark, wondering if there was someone lurking and listening. “Lost.”

He hadn’t pressed.

* * *

Poe continued to tease her about her late night, and at lunch she finally gave him a name.

“Ben.”

Poe chewed and looked thoughtful for a moment before his brows lifted in recognition. “Wait, is this the guy from the cookout? The big one? With the…” He mimed what she assumed was Ben’s hair. That, or a swoopy helmet.

“Mhm,” she agreed, taking another bite of her sandwich so she didn’t have to answer more questions.

She wasn’t going to mention that she’d pulled Ben to her side of the window once everyone else had fallen asleep and tangled her fingers in his hair. She’d had the impression that Ben wasn’t going to initiate anything, even after his display in the car before they’d gone to get food. She still couldn’t decide if he’d doubted his control or if he’d just been respecting her nest and trying not to get his pheromones all over it.

She’d encouraged him to kiss her, and if his hands had slid down to cover her jeans-clad ass, if he’d lifted her and let her wrap her legs around his waist and pressed her back against the wall beside the window and they’d rutted against each other, their panting breath loud in her ears… well, there was no need for Poe to know any of that.

He seemed to be inferring enough from her face, if his smirk was anything to go by. She felt her cheeks turn hot and skirted her eyes away, but the scrape of chair across from her made her wince as Poe turned it so he could straddle the seat and lean on the back, eyes twinkling.

“Tell me everything,” he said.

Rey snorted at him and shook her head. “Nothing to tell.”

“Lies,” he replied with a smile, drawing out the L sound.

Rey buried her head in her arms on the table, trying not to laugh. “We talked,” she said, lifting her face one she’d gotten control of herself. At his raised brow, she rolled her eyes and added, “And maybe… madeoutalittle.”

Poe seemed to speak mumble, because he clapped his hands and threw back his head to laugh. “Yes! I knew it. You go girl.” He bumped her foot under the table with his, and he sounded so dorky that Rey couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up.

“Whatever,” she replied, biting into her sandwich again and trying to ignore her flushed cheeks.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Potentially triggering content.** Warnings and which parts to skip in endnotes.
> 
> (Also, please no Ep9 spoilers in comments for those of us who haven't seen it yet.)

It was Friday when a group of Texas wolves wanted to take Ben and Rey out for dinner.

Rey immediately worried that they were looking to cause trouble over Hask, but Ben’s posture was relaxed as he drove them, and when he guided her toward the cluster of wolves outside the restaurant, he smiled as he greeted a slim alpha with grey in his hair and beard.

“This is Nossit Cicer,” he said, gesturing Rey forward, “leader of the West Texas pack.” At Rey’s frown, he added, “Hask belonged to the East Texas pack.”

“Good riddance,” said another alpha behind Cicer.

Cicer only said, “Joph,” and the younger alpha dropped his eyes, submitting. Cicer offered Rey a gentle smile and held out his hand. Rey took it. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Cicer smelled mated, and something tense uncurled in Rey. She smiled back at him, happy that she wouldn’t have to be on her guard.

He didn’t hold onto her hand long, stepping slightly away and introducing the rest of his people. The younger alpha was Joph Seastriker, blonde and energetic and unmated. Aside from him, there was one other alpha, a tall man named Jones who was older than Joph, maybe even a few years older than Ben.

Two betas, a man and a woman, flanked a young man whose eyes were glued to the sidewalk. He had dark blonde hair and a way of worrying his bottom lip with his teeth, and the betas were clearly standing with him by design.

“This is my nephew Thomas,” Cicer said, gesturing the young man forward. “Thomas Thanisson.”

Thomas walked over and lifted big brown eyes to Rey’s, still chewing his lip nervously.

“Oh,” she said.

Omega.

A _male_ omega.

They were rarer even than female alphas, in part because some wolves (terrible, backwards-thinking, old-fashioned in the worst way wolves) would kill them on sight.

Male omegas and female alphas both used to be considered abominations, but female alphas had come a long way, prying grudging respect from even the most old-fashioned members of the werewolf community. Alphas didn’t need a pack for emotional support as much as omegas did, so female alphas could remove themselves from abusive situations and survive outside a pack for a few months to a year before starting to go crazy, but omegas? Omegas had different emotional and psychological needs, needs that had chafed Rey when they’d manifested in her, needs that her pack helped her fill.

Male omegas also faced greater danger during their heats because, while male omegas _could_ take a knot, they weren’t meant to, and the bleeding could be severe if they weren’t prepared properly.

Which didn’t bear thinking about.

It said something about Cicer’s pack that they’d kept this omega safe and healthy.

“Hi, Thomas,” she said softly, going for gentle and unthreatening. He seemed jumpier than a bunny in the brush on a full moon run.

Thomas nodded to her, then retreated back to the betas. Rey heard the female beta tell him he did a good job, and he nodded but kept his eyes on the ground.

Cicer sent his people inside, and he looked at Ben, keeping his voice low. “My sister married into the East pack. When Thomas presented, she brought him to me. She knew he’d never be safe around wolves like Hask.”

“Did her mate follow? Thomas’ father?”

Cicer shook his head. “No. It’s one of the _many_ points of contention between our two packs.”

Ben nodded, and Rey took a step closer to his side. His arm wrapped around her waist as if on instinct.

“We would appreciate being able to see the body,” Cicer said as they turned to walk toward the doors. “Thomas in particular — Hask scared him. I think it would help if he could see that the man is truly dead.”

“Of course,” Ben agreed. “We can go tonight if you want.”

Cicer inclined his head, and then they were stepping into the building, the scents of meat and ketchup and freshly fried potato enveloping them.

“Why a steakhouse?” Rey asked as they joined the others at a table. Someone must have called ahead to reserve it for them to be seated so quickly on a Friday night. “Is it against the law for Texans to eat anywhere that doesn’t serve red meat?”

“Pretty much,” said Joph with a quick smile.

Rey smiled back and took her seat. The steakhouse probably had as much to do with their being werewolves. Despite the promise of good meat, though, Rey would rather have kept her awesome evening plans of pajamas, junk food, and movies with her roommates.

A moment later, warmth spread across Rey’s shoulders as Ben laid his arm across the back of her chair.

She sighed and picked up her menu. “So begins the posturing portion of the evening,” she muttered.

A small snort made her glance toward Thomas, but he had his menu up to hide his face. He sat toward the far end, with one beta in front of him and the other between himself and Rey. Cicer sat across from the beta, diagonal to Rey, and it occurred to her that they’d positioned the three unmated alphas as far from Thomas as possible.

At least they could hear each other easily, despite the background noise.

Dinner went smoothly, Ben carrying the conversation on their end, and Rey learned that Hask hadn’t been the leader of the East pack — that honor went to someone named Grummgar, who by all accounts was bigger, meaner, and stupider than Hask.

“It’s not a well-run pack,” Cicer told them. “Grummgar lets his people do what they want, and what they want is usually to cause trouble.”

“They sneak up and mess with our irrigation for the ranch,” Joph said, scowling. “Kill our livestock if they get the chance.”

“We’ve had to put out more guards,” Cicer agreed, sounding tired.

Rey examined Cicer — not as a man, but as a wolf. He was slight of build and getting older, not quite frail but no longer strong. His people were being harassed, and he didn’t put a stop to it. Maybe he couldn’t. He’d kept Thomas safe, but he let Grummgar’s pack interfere with his own.

He was weak.

And from Joph’s obvious frustration, she thought he might challenge Cicer in the next few years, when tensions got too high.

The Texas pack paid for dinner, and Ben offered to lead them to Hask’s body, which they’d buried in the woods.

Ben drove himself and Rey. “West Texas is less desirable. More space to run, but less game and more trigger-happy ranchers. Grummgar doesn’t want it, which is the only reason the two packs aren’t at war. East Texas is lush, and Grummgar has close ties to the Louisiana pack, so his people have room enough. Cicer owns a ranch that his wolves work on when they can’t find jobs, or when it’s too dangerous to be away from the pack, like with Thomas. As I understand it, Grummgar’s people have made a particular game out of tormenting him. The betas, Mitaka and Kyrsta? They’re his bodyguards. He needs fucking _bodyguards_.” The steering wheel creaked with the pressure of Ben’s grip.

Rey let this sink in. “Why doesn’t he move to another pack?”

Ben shook his head. “You’d have to ask him, but my guess is that he doesn’t know what pack would be safe. Plus, Texas is where his family is, his mother and uncle. It’s hard for an omega to leave their family when they’re still unmated.”

Rey remembered the days she’d followed her parents’ trail, desperate to catch up with them. The agony when it had rained and she'd lost their scent.

Had it been the omega in her? Or just the grief of a child who'd found herself suddenly lost and alone? Would she have reacted differently if she’d been a beta? Or an alpha?

Rey turned toward the window, embarrassed by the tears that pricked her eyes. When Brance had taken her in, he’d promised to let every pack know that if her parents turned up looking for her, they could find her safe with him. Even then, it had taken a while for Brance and Larma to get her to stay in her human form more than her wolf form, and by then at least one of their neighbors thought they’d gotten a dog.

The decision to homeschool her had been necessary. She’d lived as a wolf too long, was too quick to get overwhelmed and shift into her fur. She hadn’t been raised with the same pressure to adapt to the human world, and it showed. They’d had to keep her interactions with humans limited.

When she’d presented, two years into her homeschooling and a year after Korrie, she hadn’t come out of her fur for a full week, curled up under her bed with her tail over her nose. She remembered being confused and scared and _miserable_ , feeling betrayed by her body and the world in general.

She hadn’t been angry, though. That had come later, when she was fourteen or so.

No, she’d started out as a scared little girl.

So when they arrived at Hask’s burial site and Ben pulled a shovel out of his trunk to uncover the body, and she smelled the anxiety coming off of Thomas, it sent her right back to the day Larma had had to sit her down and explain the way of things in their world for omegas.

“It’s going to be harder for you. More dangerous. Wolves are going to think you’re capable of less, maybe even worth less, and it’s not fair. It’s not right. But that’s just the way it is.” She’d sat on the floor beside Rey’s bed, not trying to pry the newly presented omega out from underneath. “The world won’t always be good to you, and sometimes your own body will feel foreign. But you need to understand that you have a pack now, Rey. You won’t face this alone.”

The things Rey hadn’t experienced, she’d heard about from other omegas who had. Somehow, she’d managed to avoid the worst of it.

Thomas probably hadn’t.

This pack had kept her sheltered. Protected.

So much so that it took her by surprise, the dark miasma of fury and fear that came from Thomas when Ben dusted off Hask’s face and held the head up for the West Texas wolves to examine.

And then Thomas was in the grave, kicking and stomping the body, clawing at the remains, and everyone froze for what may have been a few seconds or a minute before Cicer dropped down into the grave and placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders, speaking in a low voice to calm him.

Rey did her best not to eavesdrop, and at the first choked sob she retreated discreetly into the trees, giving the pack space to comfort one of their own in his moment of vulnerability.

She didn’t have to turn to know Ben was right there with her, choosing not to intrude on a private moment. He no longer held Hask’s head, and she wondered if he’d set it down or just dropped it.

She glanced back past Ben’s shoulder, able to make out the murmur of voices but not what they were saying. “What do you think Hask did to him?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. The question alone made her sick.

Ben tilted his chin back, looking up as if he could see the moon past the trees. “I’m not sure,” he said quietly.

“Do you think…?” Rey shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself, hating the images in her head, hating that they lived in a world where those images were possible.

Ben ran his hands over her upper arms, a loose grip that gave comfort without demanding anything in return. “It’s not necessarily that. Hask had a way of provoking people. Made me hate him within just a few minutes of meeting him.”

“But he could have.”

Ben sighed, reluctant. “Maybe. I don’t know. But whatever he did, he’s dead now. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“But Grummgar can.” She frowned at a tree nearby, unsettled. “Is this what you meant when you said strength was important? Cicer not being able to protect his people?”

Ben prevaricated. “There’s definitely a power imbalance in Texas right now. I saw it firsthand when I passed through looking for a place to settle. Grummgar lets his people do whatever they want, and Cicer can only mitigate the damage at best.”

“You could have taken Grummgar,” she said, and it wasn’t a guess.

Ben nodded. “And ruled a pack of lawless bastards. No thanks.” He eyed her. “Could have taken Cicer, instead, but it would have started a war. Grummgar isn’t the type to let a powerful neighbor just move in.”

“Would that have been so bad?”

Ben shook his head, but he wasn’t agreeing with her. “I told you. Grummgar is allies with the Louisiana pack.” He took a breath and folded his arms, glancing toward the murmuring voices by the grave and then back at Rey, his eyes glinting in the dark. “There _will_ be a war in Texas some day. One of the young alphas will take the pack from Cicer and try to drive Grummgar out. But it’s a war that should be fought by someone who knows and cares about the people who will be dying in it. Someone the pack will follow because they’re sick of it, too. They’ll have a shared history, shared pain, and a shared enemy. They’ll know what they’re up against, and they’ll wait to fight until they have no other choice. Someone like me, going in and trying to fix it all through brute strength, would never have that kind of loyalty.” He grunted. “And I’d have to wipe out Grummgar’s pack _and_ the Louisiana pack to have any peace. Not worth it.”

She ran her toe through the soft padding of pine needles on the ground, digging for dirt. “Is there anything we can do?”

He tilted his head. “Offer a safe haven. When the storm starts, they’ll want the children out of the way. Probably Thomas, too.”

A lump formed in her throat, and she found herself gripping the front of Ben’s shirt. “Tell him to come here if he ever needs to get away from Texas.”

He covered her hand with his own and smiled wryly down at her. “Yes, pack leader. Whatever you say.”

Rey glared up at him, but it held no heat. “I could probably take it from you,” she muttered.

His eyes widened. “I’d love to see you try.”

She studied his face for any sign of anger or condescension, but all she saw was curiosity. Maybe even pleasure. She wondered what would happen if she tried — pack leaders didn’t have to be alphas.

But… they were never omegas.

The moment passed, and she murmured a frustrated, “Ben,” because they’d gotten off topic.

Ben stepped forward to press a kiss to her hair. “I’ll invite them to stay the weekend, and I’ll talk to Cicer. Okay?”

Rey nodded her relief, letting her fingers smooth over his shirt. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger warning:** Suspicion of male-on-male sexual assault. (Characters are concerned about another character and wonder if he was assaulted.)
> 
> **If you need to skip parts, skip:**
> 
> The paragraph starting with: _Male omegas also faced greater danger_ and start up again at _It said something about Cicer’s pack_
> 
> After the paragraph _This pack had kept her sheltered. Protected._  
>  Start up again at _Ben prevaricated. “There’s definitely a power imbalance in Texas right now.”_  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Chapter Spoilers Below  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> .  
>  **What’s actually going on with[Thomas](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Thanisson):** In my mind, Thomas was never assaulted by Hask but was made to live in terror of the possibility. He was psychologically tortured by the other Texas pack and by Hask in particular, and Hask’s death lets him release a lot of that pent-up fear and anger. In my head, if he’d actually had a violent encounter with those guys, he probably wouldn’t have survived it because they wouldn’t want him to survive. I don’t imagine that there would even be sexual assault, but they wouldn’t make it a quick, clean death, either. Grummgar’s pack is full of bullies and animals and the worst type of people, and they enable each other.
> 
> In other news, here's the _nice_ Texas pack. :D I lived in Texas for a few years as a kid and still talk to some of my friends from there.


	9. Chapter 9

Cicer agreed to stay a day or two, much to Ben’s surprise. He would have thought Thomas would be eager to get home.

In the interest of making the visiting omega feel safe, Ben contacted dominant local wolves and asked for their help. He was particularly happy to get the Wexleys involved — all betas, and the women were by-and-large more dominant than the men. Norra Wexley, the matriarch, personally assured him that she’d rip apart anyone who made Thomas uncomfortable.

It was good that so many betas turned out, then, because Thomas wasn’t the only new omega that weekend. Starck brought his sister back, and Greer from Oregon brought two young women.

Ben forced himself not to bare his teeth when Greer came over and smirked at the white sweater clinging to Rey’s shoulders.

“Looks good on you.”

Both women glanced at Ben when he couldn’t hold back a petulant rumble.

Rey rolled her eyes and turned back to Greer. “You didn’t have to spend so much.” She was rubbing the cuff between two fingers, as if she couldn’t help herself. “I know how much cashmere costs.”

Greer shrugged. “I have a good job. And you’re worth spoiling.” She grinned and shifted closer, almost into Rey’s personal bubble.

Rey blushed and smiled. “Well, thank you.”

Ben wanted to break something.

“So,” Greer said, tellingly casual, “what’s going on over there?”

“Oh. That’s the West Texas pack.”

Ben followed their gazes to Cicer and his people, who’d camped out at a picnic table and formed a loose perimeter around Thomas. The Wexleys were talking to Cicer, Seastriker, and Jones, none of them approaching Thomas directly but effectively surrounding him.

Ben wasn't sure whether Thomas saw the reinforcements as a siege, but Ben's people were keeping visiting alphas from approaching him.

It _had_ occurred to Ben, as he'd arranged all of this, that he was giving the male omega special treatment. No one had formed a defensive line for Rey or Korrie or Kaydel when the alphas invaded.

But Ben's omegas were in the heart of their pack, and Thomas wasn't. They weren’t seen as abominations, weren’t in danger by existing, hadn’t been clearly traumatized. It left the young man vulnerable, more fragile than the women Ben had charge of.

A hand on his arm interrupted Ben’s thoughts and made him look at Rey. “You said Grummgar and Louisiana were friendly?”

He followed her gaze and narrowed his eyes. LeHuse was leaning against a tree, staring straight at Thomas. His expression seemed amused, but predator recognized predator, and his posture was that of a hunting animal.

Thomas looked tense, on the edge of breaking and running, and the female beta with him was whispering something in his ear, probably trying to calm him down.

Dangerous, to act like prey among wolves.

Ben walked past clusters of people talking and laughing. Rey’s returning suitors had inundated her with fresh game, which she’d donated to the barbeque because she hadn’t had space to store it all (he’d heard her ask San Tekka if that was okay, and San Tekka had told her it was fine so long as she tasted everything). Everyone else brought something, side dishes or brownies or bags of chips, so they had plenty for a crowd.

He placed himself directly between Thomas and LeHuse, feet spread and arms crossed, and met the other alpha’s eyes. This close, he could smell Thomas’ unease, the alarming scent of scared omega sticking in his nose and bringing all of his instincts to the fore.

This was _Ben’s_ territory, and these were _his_ guests. His to protect. Thomas might have bodyguards, but he was _Ben’s_ responsibility right now. He’d seen his mother tear literal strips off of guests who thought they could get away with this kind of shit in her territory. His fangs dropped, and LeHuse’s eyes moved to the indent on Ben’s lower lip, gaze calculating.

Ben could almost _see_ him trying to decide how much more he could push before he had to face consequences.

* * *

Rey felt like every eye in the park had drawn to the silent confrontation between Ben and the Louisiana alpha, air simmering with tension until LeHuse smiled and straightened, backing off with a mocking bow.

He'd sent Rey a necklace that she planned to donate to the local gardening club. They had an annual fundraiser coming up, and she thought they might be able to auction it off along with the usual baked goods.

She ought to throw it in the trash, but that seemed wasteful, and she spent too much time talking to kids about reducing waste to be a hypocrite like that.

Once LeHuse was safely out of the way by the snacks, Rey led Greer over and introduced her to Thomas’ bodyguards before asking if they could join him.

“This is Greer,” she said as they sat across from Thomas. Rey hoped the table between them would make him feel safer. His scent was a mess of anxiety and stress, and Rey could tell that it affected all the alphas nearby, their bodies tuning in to the fear-scent and priming to defend a distraught omega.

“Nice to meet you,” Greer offered, smiling gently and carefully keeping her hands in her lap. Rey could see that they trembled slightly, though Greer kept a careful rein on the rest of her body. “I’m courting Rey, here.” She tilted her head toward Rey, perhaps trying to reassure Thomas that he didn’t have to worry about unwanted attention. “She’s wearing the sweater I gave her.” A puff of pride straightened Greer’s shoulders at that, alpha instincts clearly satisfied despite knowing nothing could happen between them.

The omegas Greer had brought with her were looking their way. Rey waved them over. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” she said when they reached the table.

Greer stood to make the introductions. “Guys, this is Rey. Rey, Peera Maso and Lusica Stynnix.”

Lusica was around Rey’s age, and Peera was maybe three years older. They both had blue eyes and fair skin, but Peera had a squarer jaw and a sour expression. Lusica seemed happy enough to plop down beside Rey and ask Thomas, “So, male omega. What’s that like?”

“Um,” he replied, blinking rapidly, and looked at his bodyguards for help.

Greer tried to abort a laugh into her hand. “Oh my God, Luce, you don’t have any filter, do you?”

Lusica tossed fine brown hair back and lifted her chin like a queen. “You knew that when you brought me here.”

Korrie drifted over and sat down beside Mitaka, Thomas’s male bodyguard. She pushed a little plate piled with brownies and cookies over to Thomas and met Rey’s eye. “What was that with the Louisiana alpha?”

“He’s a dick,” Rey offered.

“That was, like, creepy,” Lusica said with an affected shudder.

Greer looked over to the crowd by the grill, frown line on her brow, and Rey suspected that she’d seen more in the exchange than Lusica had.

Peera stood facing Greer, her posture closed, arms folded, and her shoulder curved away from the table like she didn’t want to acknowledge the people seated. “He doesn’t like the male omega,” she said softly.

Something about the way she said it made Rey’s hackles go up. Lusica had been blunt but friendly. Peera wasn’t even looking at Thomas, her mouth a thin line, her head turned away like she could pretend he wasn’t there.

Thomas’ shoulders hunched inward, his stress scent giving off an extra little burst, and the betas on either side of him tensed, glares fixed on Peera. The West Texas alphas went quiet, and a glance told her that they as well as the Wexleys had all paused to look.

Greer broke the tension, gripping Peera’s upper arm with a grimace of a smile. “Let’s grab some food, yeah?” She steered Peera away, her hand on the omega too tight to be friendly.

“Ignore her,” said Lusica, leaning over to snatch a cookie off of Thomas’ plate, which earned a soft growl from Korrie. Lusica waved the cookie in a calming motion. “Peera’s people have a stick up their collective asses about the way things _used_ to be and how things were _so much better when_ , and omegas should be seen and not heard _and that means stop talking Lusica or we’ll glare you to death_. There was really no hope that she wouldn’t turn out a bitch.” She took a bite of the cookie and looked thoughtful, then offered a conciliatory nod. “No offense to awesome bitches everywhere.”

A vaguely familiar voice said, “I’m an awesome bitch,” and Starck’s sister Tallie slid onto the bench on Lusica’s other side. “Is this the omega table?”

“Should be,” said Lusica, offering Tallie a jaunty smile. “All the best omegas are at it, after all.” She offered an exaggerated wink to Thomas, who flushed and frowned. He seemed wary, but the stress in his scent started to ease.

“Certainly if you go by number of suitors,” Tallie replied, nodding at Rey.

Rey wrinkled her nose. “They’re not actually interested in _me_.” She flicked a self-conscious glance at Korrie, who was listening calmly and didn’t seem in the least upset about Rey’s popularity. “It’s more like… they all decided I’m some sort of status symbol. It’s more about…” She gestured vaguely.

“Being top dog,” Korrie supplied gently.

“Ha,” snickered Lusica. “Top _dog_.”

Tallie laughed, then said, “Yeah, well, if what I’ve heard about you threatening to wear my brother’s intestines is true, this is definitely the cool kids’ table.”

“Oh my God, that’s awesome,” Lusica crowed. “We’ve got ourselves a modern Bastilla Shan over here.”

Rey shook her head. “Who?”

All of the wolves at the table looked at her in surprise, but it was Thomas who spoke, looking up from where he’d drawn into himself.

“A legend,” he said, voice mild but clear, with the soothing cadence of a storyteller. “An omega from before the revolution, when America was still a colony. She lived on the frontier, a lone wolf, and killed every alpha who tried to claim her.”

Other wolves went quiet, drifting in to listen, and small smiles made Rey think that this was a story many of them had heard before.

“Omegas were rarer back then,” he added, and, with every word, she noticed his scent becoming milder, calming. His shoulders began to unfurl, his hands resting clasped on the tabletop instead of his lap. “The humans in Europe still believed in magic, you see, and they hunted our kind. Entire packs fled for the Americas, but the crossings took over a month, at least one full moon, and many of us were exposed and killed at sea.

“The hunts were hardest on omegas because heats made them vulnerable. Easy to catch for those who knew what to look for.

“Bastilla somehow survived the purge in Europe and the long voyage to America and set out for the frontier on her own. No pack. No mate. Just herself and enough gear to get started.

“Then the alphas started showing up. One or two at first, and then more. They say she killed three in the midst of a heat, so strong was her determination to stay unclaimed.”

He leaned forward, wide doe eyes fixed on Rey’s, intent, and she found herself leaning in as well. “I think…” he said, soft enough that not a single wolf breathed for a moment, “that it’s because none of them were right. I think she felt it in her bones that those wolves were wrong for her. I think that she could have remained unclaimed for the rest of her life, if the right one had never come along.”

He leaned back and tapped his fingers on the table twice, eyes never leaving Rey’s. “Some tell this story as a tale of Revan’s strength. How he swooped in like the prince in a fairy tale and claimed the unclaimable omega, proving his superiority to all those weak alphas who came before.” He waited a beat. “Do you think he subdued her, Rey?” Another beat. “Or do you think she would have forced him to kill her rather than submit if she didn’t want to?”

Her heart picked up speed as she imagined it. What would Rey do? Force someone to kill her rather than let a mating happen?

Or bide her time and kill him in his sleep?

She rather thought she’d choose to survive and just make the bastard regret it.

“I like to think that Revan was careful,” Thomas mused. “That he left courting gifts while she was out hunting. Food, trinkets. She’d come home and find a wooden rabbit he’d carved, or her firewood chopped, or her roof patched. Maybe she thought he was waiting to pounce during her heat, but it came and went, and she got curious about her strange suitor, went to find him.” The hint of a smile curved Thomas’ lips. “They sat and talked, and he was polite and respectful. Maybe he had a biting wit, made her laugh. And he started to bring his gifts to the door, and she let him in for water, then meals, then sex, and it’s not rushed or impulsive when she finally says yes. They know each other by then. And it doesn’t matter which one of them is stronger, because that’s not what it’s about.”

Rey blinked slowly. Whispered, “It’s about love.”

Thomas smiled at her like she got it.

* * *

An hour later, the food was ready and Guila from Oregon had talked some others into bookending the “omega table” with two other picnic tables so he could sit by Korrie. Kaydel joined with her food, squeezing between Korrie and one of Thomas' bodyguards, and introduced herself to everyone.

Rey found herself handing a napkin with a phone number on it to Thomas as she came back from getting food, having to bend to whisper, “Greer has a friend in Tennessee who would love to talk to you, if you’re interested.”

Greer’s actual words had been, “She’s deplorably straight and complains nonstop about all the male omegas being taken. Won’t settle for a beta. She’s a bit older but would flay her own skin from her body for two seconds of his time, so if you can get him to text her it would put her in my debt for _life_.”

Peera Maso sat at a further table, her back to them, and Lusica leaned close to Rey to tell her, “This is her last shot at finding a mate on her own before her family arranges something for her.” She popped a grape in her mouth. “I’d feel bad for her if she weren’t so pissy about it.” Glanced over at Greer, who sat across from Guila and was talking to him and Korrie and Kaydel. “Greer only brought her as a favor. This is supposed to be, like, matchmaking heaven. Speaking of,” she added, wiping her hands on her napkin, “which of these guys do you recommend?”

Rey’s head spun for a moment before she realized the opportunity in front of her. Not only were there other omegas to get some of the alphas off her back, but this omega was asking to be directed like an arrow.

Rey narrowed her eyes contemplatively at the alphas along the table, hoping that this would be throwing the _alphas_ to the figurative wolves rather than Lusica. “Tallie’s brother is over there,” she suggested, jerking her chin at where Starck sat with Ronith and some other betas after being turned away from Rey’s table. (By his own sister, it had been hilarious.) Finn and Rose were at the same table. “Every time he opens his mouth, I want to stab him in the eye, but you seem like you could handle him.”

“ _Cute_ ,” Lusica said, a grin spreading across her face.

“Joph and Jones from West Texas seem okay,” she said, gesturing toward them, and they were close enough to look over when she said their names. She fought down a blush and avoided their eyes. She hadn’t smelled mate or omega on either of them, so she assumed they were available. “I haven’t had much time to talk to them, though, so you’d have to make up your own mind.”

Lusica caught Joph’s eye. Smiled. “I can work with that.” She glanced over at the grill, where Ben stood talking to Brance and San Tekka. “What about tall and dark over there?”

Rey felt her eyes go wide, and the _no_ was out of her mouth before she could think to temper it.

Lusica grinned and raised her hands in surrender. “Okay. I can respect dibs.”

Embarrassed, Rey glanced back over at Ben — and found him looking at her.

She couldn’t interpret the expression on his face, couldn’t tell whether he’d heard her, and after a moment he blinked and looked away.

* * *

On Sunday, all the visiting omegas were invited to Brance’s for dinner, and Rey found herself watching Korrie and Kaydel as they maneuvered among the other omegas with ease.

Oddly enough, it was Thomas who sat beside Rey, an outlier even though several of the omegas had made pointed efforts to include him.

“Not feeling social?” she asked, sympathetic because neither did she. Though she’d gotten away with avoiding a lot of her duties as a courted omega during the picnic, after Thomas left there hadn’t been anywhere in the park she hadn’t been approached by _someone_.

She was exhausted.

Thomas laced his hands between his knees, slumping. “I don’t know why everyone’s trying to be nice to me.”

She raised a brow at him. “Maybe they like you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a lot of _positive_ experiences with other omegas.” He glanced at Peera Maso, who stood across the room, talking to Jones. Rey had seen Lusica cornering Starck and Joph Seastriker in the kitchen a few minutes ago, though neither alpha had looked as if they'd minded.

Thomas' voice brought her thoughts back around to Peera. “They’re usually more like her. I don’t know, it feels like everyone has an angle here, and I just haven’t figured out what it is yet.”

Rey nodded and admitted, “I’m no good at the human stuff, but I know Korrie and Kaydel are okay.”

He offered a tired smile. “For you, I’m sure they are.”

Rey felt defensive on their behalf. “You think it’d be different for you?”

“It usually is.” He glanced sidelong at her. “I’m different than you. I mean, I’m _called_ an omega, but I work differently. You’re trying to act like I’m one of you, but… I’m not.”

She nodded slowly, not agreeing, just acknowledging she heard him. She vaguely recalled Larma telling her about the differences, how male omega heats weren’t proper heats. They lasted longer and were gentler, meant to lure in a female alpha to impregnate. But the scent was the same as a female omega’s, and it triggered rut just as easily.

That was, as Rey understood it, the main reason male omegas were considered unnatural — because their scent confused and angered alphas who wanted omega pussy instead of omega dick.

Rey looked at Thomas’ profile and wondered if he planned to call Greer’s friend in Tennessee, or if he’d already thrown the napkin away. “Being different doesn’t mean you’re not an omega.” His mouth twisted in disagreement, though he didn’t say anything. “And it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. Or allies, at least.”

His look was assessing and not completely trusting, but eventually he nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Don’t get too excited, there,” she told him, and he laughed.

* * *

Rey stayed after everyone else had gone. She’d lived in this house for a while, before she’d started having heats and had had to move out. She had shared a room with Kaydel (which was now a home office), and Brance had given her food and a safe place to sleep and had scented her like family, like pack.

So she lingered over dessert, and then coffee, and, when even Kaydel had gone, Brance leaned back and looked at Rey like he knew why she’d stayed.

“What do you think of Ben?”

His brows rose, and then he smiled. It didn’t help Rey’s nerves.

“He’s a good man. Not surprising, given his family.”

She straightened a bit at that, fingers tightening around her mug. “You know his family?”

“Of, mostly.” He tilted his head, eying her curiously. “You haven’t discussed them?”

“He says they’re all alphas,” she offered, and he made a considering face and then nodded.

“I’m sure you’ll meet them eventually. I heard his mother wanted to come out right away to meet you, but he talked her out of it.”

Rey sat up. “What? Why?”

Brance waved a dismissive hand. “It would have caused problems with the transfer of power. Nothing to do with you, don’t worry.”

She chewed on that for a moment. “What do you think of how he’s handled things so far?”

“He’s doing fine,” Brance replied. “Not experienced at running a pack, but no one is at first, and he’s not afraid to ask for advice, which is… good. He’ll get there.”

“You don’t think he’s too…” Too what? Violent? Reactionary? Domineering? She couldn’t decide if any of that even fit.

“He’s still establishing dominance,” Brance replied, not sounding concerned at all. “I’m sure he’ll settle once things are calmer.”

 _Establishing dominance._ Rey’s wolf appreciated the practicality of that. Out loud, she said, “He says he saved lives by killing Hask like that.”

“He probably did.” Brance made a thoughtful face. “Brutality can be effective. In moderation, of course.”

“You were never brutal.”

Larma laughed from the kitchen, where she’d been putting things away and clearly eavesdropping. Brance’s mouth twisted into a wry smile, his eyes darting that way. “You arrived after peace had been well established here, so you never had to see the violence of an unsettled pack. I’ve lived through several leadership transitions, first in Colorado, then Kentucky, then here. It’s never this tidy.”

Rey scoffed. “You call this tidy?”

Brance’s raised brows told her his opinion of _that_ question. Very quietly, he asked, “What’s the body count, Rey?”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Finally, she said, “One.”

“How many from _our_ pack?”

She shook her head. “None.”

He just looked at her, letting that fact marinate. Eventually, he murmured, “I call that _very_ tidy. Ideal, even.”

Rey felt unmoored by that, her brows dipping together. Brance’s expression softened, and he leaned forward to briefly squeeze her knee. Scenting her, just a bit. It settled her wolf.

“You still don’t remember your first pack?”

She shook her head, trying not to think about that.

“Then this is your first real experience with pack politics?”

The lump in her throat made her nod stiff.

“We aren’t human, Rey,” he said gently. “You more than anyone understand that.” She tried not to wince at the reminder of the long period she’d spent in wolf form as a child, the distance she’d managed to put between herself and her human mind. “We aren’t _animals_ ,” he added, “but we aren’t human, either. Human ways don’t work for us. Believe me, it’s been tried. When it comes right down to it, our wolves need to know that the pack leader can protect them. And honestly, it’s a relief to hand over the reins to someone who can do that. I’m not sure I could have won against Hask, much less made a statement with it that would keep other challengers at bay.

“I’m _glad_ it’s Ben and not someone else who challenged me. Especially since he learned how to lead from… from his family.”

She noticed the hesitation and wondered about it, but her mind was too taken up with everything else Brance had told her. “So which is more important? Strength or diplomacy?”

Brance smiled. “Both.” When she frowned, he laughed. “It’s like asking whether we’re humans who’re wolves sometimes or wolves who turn into humans. We’re werewolves. One hundred percent of the time. And whether strength or diplomacy is the right track depends on the situation, same as whether it’s better to be in our skin or fur. In public, I’d say skin. In the forest, I’d say fur.”

“So… you think he’s doing a good job?”

“I think he’s doing his best with a very difficult situation. Maybe he’s made some choices I wouldn’t have, but I’ve seen transitions go a lot worse than this. A _lot_ worse.”

“We both have,” Larma said softly from the doorway. Brance held out a hand, and she crossed to sit on the arm of his chair, his hand wrapping around her hip. “When a pack is taken and the old leader survives… packs can be torn apart by that. Sometimes they split, and sometimes…”

Brance squeezed Larma’s hip when she tapered off. “Sometimes they fight. The new leader has to put people down to stay in control. It’s a slaughter.”

Rey frowned. “That’s why you didn’t complain when Ben took over.”

“It was a gamble for him to let me live,” Brance admitted, and Larma looped an arm around his shoulders. “Making the transition easy was the least I could do.”

She thought about that as she got her things, and she was at the door when she asked, “The _Luna Venari_?”

His eyes turned sad. “Was one of the choices I wouldn’t have made.” He offered a wan smile and brushed his hand against her back, offering that bit of comfort. “At least nothing came of it.”

Rey raised an incredulous brow, thinking about the courting and the suitors and the chaos they’d had to endure. “Nothing?”

Brance laughed. “Nothing irreversible, I mean.”

She sighed and nodded. There was that, she supposed.

“Good night, Rey. Remember you’re always welcome here.”

She stepped outside, wondered briefly when it had gotten dark, and listened to the door close behind her.

* * *

Rey felt twitchy the next day, adjusting under the odd feeling that Brance had given Ben his blessing: either to take over the pack or pursue Rey, she couldn’t quite decide.

Maybe both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you who have read Soul Searching will recognize Lusica. :)
> 
> Seeing Ep9 today! Let's still keep comments spoiler-free for everyone who hasn't seen it yet. (I've been waiting to read comments from Chapter 8 until after I see the movie, just in case.) Also, I doubt Ep9 will have much impact on this story. It should remain spoiler-free. If somehow it doesn't, I'll warn ya.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had nothing to do but write while I avoided spoilers for TROS, so I have another chapter set for tomorrow, too.
> 
> (I have seen TROS, and it will affect pretty much nothing in this story. If I include TROS characters in a chapter, I'll warn ya first.)
> 
> Please still refrain from spoilers in the comments.
> 
> Love!

Preheat cramps started while she was at work Wednesday morning, stacking paint cans. Her section of the center accepted drain-o, turpentine, motor oil, antifreeze… anything that they didn’t want to leach into the groundwater, and people could come take what they needed.

Better to use it than dump it.

Ben was at the fire station today and had invited her to lunch, but she knew her body well enough to know that she wouldn’t be able to make it. She sent him a quick text and then one to Larma, letting her know that Rey would need a ride to the heat bunker that afternoon. She had a few hours until her scent fully changed and heat started in earnest. Time enough to clock out and head home to gather the bag she’d prepped.

Larma was in charge of the heat bunker. She was a registered nurse and would check in with Rey daily to make sure she had enough food and water and hadn’t injured herself. She also kept a copy of the key to the single heavy-duty lock on the door. The omega inside kept the other.

It wasn’t the only safety feature. The door had bolts she could latch from the inside and a video panel so she could see who was on the other side, which captured still photos and sent them to Larma’s phone so she would know if anyone tried to break in.

It hadn’t been put to much use after Korrie’s alpha brother had mated into another pack, but with all the new alphas around… these were dangerous times.

It was ironic that this was the thought passing through her mind when she smelled the unfamiliar alpha, someone who had to be close enough for Rey to catch over the chemicals saturating the air around her.

She moved before looking, old instincts prompting her to grab a half-full gallon of paint as she turned.

A human hand tipped with sharp, strong claws scraped the industrial shelf Rey had been standing in front of. The owner of the claws was tall, her short hair so pale that Rey knew her wolf had to be ethereally beautiful.

She also didn’t hesitate to switch directions and lash again at Rey, who blocked it with the paint can.

Behind her, a soft growl that couldn’t have come from a human throat.

Rey grabbed a bottle of Drain-o, punctured it with her claws, and flung it at the female alpha’s eyes. Drain-o could eat through hair and porcelain and metal. It could temporarily blind a wolf.

The woman clapped a hand over her face, jerking back, and Rey slammed her into the shelves as she dashed by, catching movement in the corner of her eye that had her dropping the paint can and swinging around a support column faster than the wolf could change directions. She got a glimpse of it as its claws scrabbled on the smooth floor like a huge, terrifying version of those funny pet videos Finn liked to send her; it was bigger than her wolf form but not as big as Ben’s, stocky and reddish and snarling.

She’d almost reached the front counter when a hand clamped around her throat and jerked her off her feet, flinging her into a wall. When her head cleared, she saw a thin, red-haired man with unhealthily pale skin as he clasped his hands behind himself and strode leisurely toward her.

The female alpha and reddish wolf flanked him.

None of them looked particularly happy with her.

She bared her teeth, pushing gingerly to a crouch. Her claws were out, her fangs filling her mouth, but she managed to grate around them, “Who are you?”

The man gave her a smile that was ninety percent sneer. He looked her up and down. “I really don’t see the appeal.”

The woman by his side shrugged when he looked at her, then tested the air and lifted her brows in surprise. “She’s going into heat.”

“If you lay a finger on me—” she snarled, but the pale man grimaced.

“Ugh, no. As if we’d touch an unwashed mongrel.” He shuddered, then glanced at the wolf. “Well, maybe Rodinon. I told him he could claim you or kill you, whichever he wanted, but he missed his chance. It will be cleaner just to kill you, now.”

Rodinon crept forward, and his scent hit her like a punch to the face.

He was the alpha who’d lain in wait outside her house.

“Why?” she growled, hoping to keep them talking, distracted, so she could find an opening.

“I’m sure Solo could tell you,” the man replied, and he stepped forward as well. Beta, she noted, though he was clearly in charge. “But I’m afraid you’ll never have the chance to ask.” He lifted his chin, clearly gloating, and Rey struck.

Her claws cleaved through the soft skin of his throat, and she was still looking at the exposed meat as the woman’s claws plunged into her stomach. She must have started moving almost at the same moment Rey had lunged.

Rey saw the beta’s blood begin to flow, his hands rising to clasp at the wound, felt Rodinon’s jaws sink into her thigh, the world exploding in pain. She screamed and maybe that’s why none of them noticed Poe until he’d slammed a baseball bat into Rodinon’s skull, forcing the wolf’s jaws to loosen and release Rey.

Rey could have told Poe that baseball bats weren’t particularly effective against werewolves, whimpering as Rodinon shook off the effects and turned on her boss, but she was a bit preoccupied with coughing up blood as the woman’s claws dug in deeper, one eye red and irritated from the drain cleaner Rey had flung in her face.

Rey had seen cats play with their food, teasing and letting it go to capture again before getting down to business.

Some werewolves, she’d noticed, acted a bit more like cats than wolves, probably from spending so much time in their human forms. They shifted for full moons and pack hunts, they enjoyed the perks of enhanced strength and senses and healing, but they’d never _lived_ in their wolf skin, never had to use it to survive the way she had, had never fought for their lives against creatures for whom every battle meant life or death.

Rey lifted her arm and swung with all her rapidly dwindling strength, jabbing two claws straight into the woman’s good eye and _pushing_ until she felt brainmatter.

The woman spasmed and drew back, falling and twitching. She wasn’t dead, but she wouldn’t be able to control her body until her brain healed.

Rey clawed the tendons at the back of the pale man’s knees as she stumbled past him, holding an arm over her middle to keep her insides in place. Rodinion lifted his bloody muzzle and growled as she approached, then inhaled and cocked his head. As Rey drew toward Poe’s body, Rodinion stood and circled with intent.

The doors were closed and bolted. She supposed the beta had done that while the alphas had stalked her. It reduced the likelihood of a last-minute rescue or humans stumbling upon them.

Even mad wolves with a grudge knew to keep the secret, knew that Poe had to die along with Rey because he’d seen them, seen the teeth and claws, even if he didn’t necessarily know what it meant.

It was probably why they’d come in human form. Three wolves would draw more attention than two humans with a dog. She saw a _collar_ on Rodinon and wondered if they’d had him leashed, too, to complete the fiction.

“Finish her,” the beta hissed through his healing throat, struggling and unable to stand.

Rey picked up Poe’s bat, which had rolled to the side. When Rodinon charged, she didn’t have a physical advantage. She was wounded, slow, and concerned with her fallen friend.

Which meant she had very little to lose.

She broke the bat in half and shoved the larger bit into Rodinon’s open jaws.

It jammed there, and she pushed, falling forward as he retreated and took away her leverage. He pawed at it, trying to pull it out, but it seemed to be stuck. Rey stumbled to the side, arm still around her middle, and used the claws of her free hand to rip out the blonde’s throat, pulling a bloody chunk of meat from bone.

Blood gushed from the severed artery. The woman wouldn’t be able to heal that much damage in time to avoid bleeding out, not while she also tried to repair brain damage. Werewolves couldn’t choose which parts healed first, so it was most effective to slice as much open as you could all at once.

The beta started to shift with a hoarse roar, and Rey shuffled over, sliced open two different arteries while he struggled to get free from his clothes.

Rodinon had shifted to human, using his hands to pull the bat from his mouth, and got unsteadily to his feet.

He was the least injured of them all, and he looked… _shit_. He looked like her preheat was affecting him. Rey wasn’t quite sure what he’d do if he got his hands on her, if he’d kill her or try to fuck her, and her insides felt more whole than they had a minute ago, though still in danger of falling out.

She had seconds to come up with a strategy, to decide what would put Rodinon in the most vulnerable position.

She thought about Ben, about the way he kissed her, focused on it to the exclusion of the stabbing pain in her abdomen, and her preheat came in handy for once in her damn life, helping her produce enough slick to lead Rodinon by the nose.

She inched backward, angling to get closer to the other half of the bat, but he circled wide and kicked it away, his intentions clear.

 _Bastilla Shan_ , she thought, and readied her teeth and claws.

He pounced.

* * *

Ben hadn’t expected anyone to attack in broad daylight, in a public space.

His mistake.

He looked at the carnage on the floor of the recycling center and tried to keep his wolf from bursting through his skin.

He’d found Rey with her blood-smeared phone in hand, nearly unconscious, her skin torn and bitten. Her clothes were ripped but mostly intact, and he’d been quietly triumphant when he’d seen that she hadn’t just disemboweled the naked alpha at her side but had castrated him, as well.

He hadn’t asked if the alpha had touched her. It hadn’t looked like he’d gotten that far, and it had been more important to send her somewhere safe.

He still had to contain the situation before the humans noticed anything.

He’d called in quite a few of his wolves for this. Larma had taken the human, breath shallow and heart barely beating, bite marks on his body that clearly weren’t human, and had promised to keep Ben apprised of his condition.

If he lived, they’d have a new packmate.

Ben rubbed his fingertips together. It wasn’t his favorite way to grow a pack.

Hux’s body had reverted to human upon his death, his clothes askew. He would have hated not having every hair in place.

Ben resisted the urge to kick Hux, knowing his betas wouldn’t understand all the history there. Ben had thought that the first attack on Rey might have involved Hux, had had feelers out for someone of his and Phasma’s descriptions, but with all the strangers passing into and through their territory recently, Ben wasn’t surprised none of his people had noticed a handful of wolves who weren’t supposed to be there.

And Ben hadn’t recognized the original attacker’s scent, couldn’t be sure of a link to Hux. That wolf was a newer player, someone they’d picked up since he’d sent them scurrying from Snoke’s old territory.

Ben knelt by Phasma, surprised and a little intimidated at the damage Rey had been able to do. Phasma’s wolf was as large as his own, snow-white and savage. Hux preferred playing the mastermind, disliked getting his paws dirty. Literally. He always complained about the state of his fur after full moons.

He’d been one of the people Snoke had changed, hadn’t been born a wolf. Snoke had liked his shrewd mind, lust for power, and complete lack of empathy.

Hux was also a coward. It made sense that he’d target Rey instead of Ben. He’d clearly assumed that she was the weaker option.

Ben would smirk at that if he couldn’t still smell Rey’s blood on the ground.

She’d been drenched in it, and when Larma had prioritized the human, Ben had nearly bitten her head off.

“She’ll live,” Larma had snapped. “He won’t, not unless I get this bleeding stopped. He’s lost too much already.”

She’d given orders to Kaydel to take Rey to the heat bunker, and Ben had tried to calm his wolf and breathe through his mouth so he’d stop smelling her blooming preheat under all the blood.

He’d seen her look back at him before leaving the building, bundled in a blanket to hide that she was little more than a collection of raw wounds.

He would have killed to go after her, clean her up, make sure her injuries healed properly. Get her settled in the bunker with water and soft blankets and maybe scent something for her.

Except that he didn’t know where the bunker was. Alphas in the pack weren’t allowed to know. Not even the pack leader.

Larma had gone over the bunker’s security measures with him, though. They seemed… adequate.

He thought it would be safer if he guarded the door himself, but he knew better than to suggest it. If it wasn’t airtight, he might forget himself and try to get in.

He helped roll the bodies onto tarps and load them into a pickup truck. Three of his betas took the bodies to hide deep in the forest while the rest of them worked on mopping the blood off the floor.

One of the younger betas, Nix, offered to go into the human’s computer and arrange sick leave for him.

“I’ll help,” said a young Asian woman. Not Rey’s roommate. Taller, thinner, with a mole above her lip. Someone else might call it a beauty mark, but it was a mole. Ben had plenty of moles, and he’d rolled his eyes so hard it had _hurt_ the time an omega, flirting with him because she’d been kind of obviously trying to cosy up to his mom, had called them beauty marks.

Ben nodded for Nix and the young woman to go ahead and then stepped back so someone could dump a container of bleach where the worst of the blood had been. Everyone simultaneously covered their mouths and noses, the sharp scent painful, but this was the price they’d have to pay to get this done. They’d cope.

They scrubbed and scrubbed until their clothes had bleach stains and all visible traces of the slaughter were gone.

Ben sniffed out a few drops that had gotten under the lip of the counter, and they cleaned those, too.

Hiding bodies was not new to Ben. He’d helped his mother hide bodies when he’d been old enough. It was a right of passage, part of being a werewolf, part of being a pack. It brought a pack closer together, bound with secrets.

Anyone travelling alone in another pack’s territory could disappear, and there wasn’t much packs of missing wolves could do to find out what really happened if the other pack didn’t want them to know. That was one of the reasons Ben preferred to stick to formal challenges. Bad blood grew when wolves just disappeared.

Grummgar couldn’t do anything about Ben killing Hask during a leadership challenge, since everything had been by the book and in front of witnesses, but it didn’t mean Ben wouldn’t disappear if he stupidly wandered into Grummgar’s territory.

His mother’s territory was safe even for her enemies, but she couldn’t easily travel outside of it because she had to arrange her layovers in safe territories, the number of which were depressingly few.

 _Friendly_ territories aplenty. Many packs wanted to ally themselves with Leia Organa.

But _safe_ was a different matter entirely.

His mother kept others safe. It put a target on her back. He’d had to watch challengers try to kill her over the years, been there when she’d been ambushed, watched her rip other wolves to shreds to protect her pup, her ferocity like nothing he’d ever seen.

Except, perhaps… He looked around the newly-cleaned space, recalled the bodies.

Perhaps he’d met someone as fierce as his mother.

Someone who would stand over his pups and fight to the death to protect them.

Someone who was going into heat as he nodded at his betas and started sending people home or back to work, depending on where they’d been when he’d called.

He locked up after them and joined Nix and the beta girl in the back office, leaning against the wall and watching as they argued about syntax for the email.

The girl, Jessika, wound up texting Rey for information, but there was no answer.

“Probably in the bunker by now,” Ben murmured. He didn’t know if she’d have her phone in there, or reception if she did.

Jessika nodded and tucked her phone away.

Nix eyed Ben. “Must be tough.”

Ben showed his fangs, and Nix blanched, quickly looking away and minding his own business.

Jessika typed for a minute, then sat back and gestured at the screen. “This should do. Wanna check it?”

Ben read over their shoulders, then nodded. “Looks good. Send it.”

He had to get back to the station. He’d taken an early lunch and had already gone over his allotted time. He locked up after himself and the betas, checked his phone to find no news from Larma, and slipped into his car. Took a deep breath, trying to ignore the stink of bleach and blood and fertile omega that made his stomach turn with an uncomfortable mix of arousal and disgust.

Someone would tell him if Rey hadn’t made it to the bunker safely.

He texted Kaydel anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

When Rey’s heat broke, she showered and exited to find clean clothes.

It was her softest sweatpants and the cashmere sweater from Greer, both smelling faintly of Rose, and Rey smiled. Her roommate knew how sensitive Rey’s skin was after a heat, knew her preferences for clothes and food, knew how long to leave her alone while she recovered.

Finn knew all of that, too, but he preferred to ignore that Rey had heats. His contribution was usually to pick up food for all of them once she emerged and never ever broach the subject _ever_.

Rey's skin felt particularly sensitive as she gingerly pulled the clothes on, wincing as the soft fabric dragged across her skin. Healing all those wounds just as heat had set in had _not_ been fun, and having the scent of strange alphas as well as Ben in her nose had set her instincts awhirl with extra doses of panic and need.

It had sucked.

Someone had cleaned her phone and left it with her clothes, though the crevices still smelled like blood. She decided that she’d try to properly clean it, and, if that didn’t work, she’d buy a new one. It would force her to dip into her savings, but a phone that didn’t smell like trauma and death would be worth it.

She ignored the smell and called Ben, choosing not to examine too closely why she’d called him instead of Larma.

When he picked up, she asked, “How’s Poe?”

* * *

Rose and Finn filled Rey in on what had happened after the attack at the recycling center, while she’d been writhing on the floor of the bunker, trying to cool down and sobbing with frustration, her hand between her legs.

It wasn’t even the unfulfilled lust that got to her. It was the vulnerability, the loss of control and sheer _humiliation_ of begging thin air for relief as she tried to ease the heat herself.

She knew from others that heat with a partner was practically a spiritual experience, but pregnancy was a real risk, and Rey wasn’t about to roll the dice on that.

Alphas struggled to use condoms during rut because they always knotted with omegas. Human condoms weren’t built for that or for the amount of ejaculate alphas produced. Cheap condoms could break, and most condoms overflowed.

Contraception was more trustworthy but still not foolproof. Omega biology was a stubborn bitch. Instead of the human 0.01% failure rate of contraceptives, omegas had a 10% failure rate.

Larma had studied with Harper Kalonia in the northeastern pack, an omega doctor who’d done groundbreaking research on designations in her youth and continued to search for effective contraception. _It might be instinct for omegas to reproduce_ , Larma had told Rey while explaining the reasoning behind Kalonia’s research, _but you have the right to do so in your own time rather than be dictated by your body._

It was miserable to go through heat alone, but she wasn’t ready to be a mother any more than she was ready to take a mate.

“They had a grudge against Solo,” said Finn. “He thinks they heard about you and decided to take a shot at you to hurt him.”

Rey nodded, because that was pretty much what Hux had told her.

“They were not prepared for you to be a badass,” Rose added with a sharp grin.

Rey took all of this in, going back over the fight in her mind. It had been stressful, but fighting for her life wasn’t new to her. Mountain lions, bears, moose, werewolves. What was the difference, really?

 _Sentience_ , she supposed, but she shrugged the thought off. She’d done what was necessary. Practicality was one gift that living feral had given her. She never regretted killing to survive or using violence to protect herself.

A werewolf’s life _was_ violence. Violence and pain.

Poe had found that out the hard way, had been initiated in blood.

He was alive but unconscious, healing at a rate that suggested the change had finally taken. He would have to face a brutal new world, thrown into the thick of it and told to swim.

She regretted not being able to protect him. He wouldn’t be the same Poe after this.

Finn and Rose mistook her grief for trauma and curled around her, giving her comfort the way they would in their furs, through touch. Rey let them, let the support sink into her skin and bones, her heartbeat syncing up with theirs. It comforted her to know that they would help her make Poe feel welcome, would be there for him if she asked them to. She remembered the way Ben had been friendly with Poe at the picnic.

Werewolf packs tended to be insular communities, socializing among themselves. Things got awkward when a human managed to stumble in among them, but the California pack had always been pretty good at interacting with society, even if they preferred to stay separate.

Rey thought that it would be a good place for Poe.

She _hoped_ it would.

* * *

When Poe woke up a few days after her heat, almost a full week after the attack, Rey begged Ben to let her join them for the big “you’re a werewolf now” talk.

Poe was her friend, her boss, and it was her fault he’d gotten hurt. She needed to apologize, to be there for him, and she hadn’t even been allowed in to see him yet.

Ben was reluctant, fought her on it, but she wore him down until he agreed with the caveat that she stay out of the way.

The moment she stepped into the room where they were keeping Poe, she realized why Ben hadn’t wanted her along.

Poe was an alpha.

Rey rolled her eyes at Ben’s back and saw Larma shoot him a frown, to which he shrugged helplessly before gesturing Rey to stand by the wall.

She wanted to go to Poe, ask him if he was alright, but she’d promised to stay out of the way, so she took the seat.

“Hey,” she said softly, and Poe’s gaze darted her way. He was in a metal chair with a cup in his hands that she guessed was water. He looked clammy and smelled unwashed.

“Rey,” he said, his voice rough like he hadn’t used it recently.

She leaned forward. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a bus.”

Ben crossed his arms, and Poe’s gaze snapped to him. “Mauled by a werewolf, actually.” Ben was intent on Poe’s reaction, watching the way Poe jerked his head back and frowned.

“What?” He looked at Ben like Ben was crazy.

Ben unfolded his arms and crouched in front of Poe, getting eye level. Rey couldn’t see what Poe could, but Ben must have shifted a bit because Poe’s eyes went wide and he started pushing backward, dropping his water as he tried to get away.

“You’re scaring him,” Rey protested, starting to step forward.

Ben whipped his head around and glared her back. She felt the air rush out of her at that look, which gentled once her back touched the wall. “He was always going to be afraid,” Ben replied, not unkindly. He turned his face back to Poe. “They all are at first.”

“That’s not real,” Poe was saying, almost babbling. “You’re not real. That’s not… I hit my head. It’s not real.”

Larma put her hands on Poe’s shoulders, trying to steady him. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “You’re okay. We know this is a lot to take in.”

“It’s not that bad,” Rey added, biting her lip when Poe swung his gaze over to her. Ben’s shoulders tensed, but she ignored him. There wasn’t room for his jealousy and posturing here, when her friend was afraid.

“Rey?” Poe asked, his eyes begging her to tell him they were joking, that it was all some elaborate prank.

She moved slowly forward, ignoring Ben’s warning growl. “You never noticed anything strange? How tired I was the day after a full moon? How I never seemed to get sick? The time I cut myself on a piece of scrap metal and you wanted to bandage it but there was nothing to bandage?” A few more steps, and she was beside his chair, touching his shoulder, seeking to comfort him. He was staring at her. His nostrils flared, eyes glazing, and he reached to lightly grasp her upper arm.

“Rey,” Ben said, soft and dangerous, “get away from him.”

The order made her bristle even as her wolf wanted to obey. It clearly upset Poe, whose hand tightened on her.

She turned her head to glare at Ben, still crouched in front of Poe, every muscle in his body visibly tensed. “He’s my _friend_ ,” she growled.

Ben’s narrowed gaze was on Poe, not on her, and the hand on her arm _squeezed_. She took a quick breath at the pain, and then Ben exploded into movement, ripping Poe away from her and slamming him into the floor, kneeling on Poe’s chest to pin him down. Poe was struggling, but he didn’t know how to use his new strength, didn’t seem to realize he had claws and fangs now.

Ben roared in his face, and Poe went limp with terror.

Finally, when Ben seemed satisfied with Poe’s submission, he muttered, “Stay,” and got up, watching to make sure his order was obeyed. Larma knelt by Poe, then, blocking his sight of Ben.

Who turned to Rey, and the cold fury she saw there made her lose her breath. “Get the fuck out.”

She blinked at him, stunned. “What?”

Ben threw her up against the wall by the door, too angry to check his strength, and bared his fangs in a snarl, close enough that she could see the saliva clinging to his teeth. “Get. Out.”

Rey trembled, her shoulderblade aching with what might be a bruised bone from her impact with the wall. It made her angry, as did the tears gathering in her eyes, so she pushed at him to get him out of her face.

Ben slammed a clawed hand into the wall beside her, making her flinch, glaring into her eyes.

“Go,” Larma snapped, the scent of her anger joining the alpha fury choking the air.

Rey sucked in a surprised breath, and Ben glanced over his shoulder, letting Rey see the way Poe struggled to get up, staring at Ben’s back as if he wanted to rip his spine out, Larma fighting to keep him on the ground.

Ben released Rey and opened the door. “Get out before I throw you out.”

The words were quiet but hard, and Rey felt hurt fill her chest. She left the room shakily, whirling when the door slammed shut and _locked_ behind her.

“Asshole,” she muttered, knowing he’d hear it.

She wasn’t quite far enough away to miss Larma’s, “You can’t let her do that.”

Cold ran down her spine.

And then it froze, leaving her numb, when she heard Ben’s, “I’ll handle it.”

* * *

Rey was curled up in her nest when she heard Rose open the door to Ben. It’d been a few hours since the incident with Poe, and she was still upset.

“She doesn’t want to see you,” Rose said in her firmest voice.

Silence for a moment, then a firm, uncompromising, “I’m here on pack business.”

“That doesn’t mean you can come in uninvited,” Rose replied. “This is our home. You can’t just push her around.”

Ben’s tone turned frigid and commanding. “Unless you plan to formally challenge me, get the _fuck_ out of my way.”

Rey’s heartbeat picked up as she heard footsteps, and then he was at her bedroom door, trying the handle.

Silence when he found it locked, and his low voice came clearly through. “Open the door, or I’ll break it down.”

“Go fuck yourself,” she called back, trembling with adrenaline.

“This isn’t a social call, Rey.” She could _smell_ his frustration. “I’m ordering you. Get out here, or I’m coming in.”

She darted for the door and threw it open, her shoulders back and head high, jaw clenched as her scent betrayed her fear. “What do you—?” She cut off as he wrapped a hand around her upper arm, _tight_ , and hauled her to the living room. He shoved her to sit in the corner of the sofa before bending to get in her face. She had to choke back the instinct to rake her claws across his face, a warning to back off. She bared her teeth instead.

He met her snarl with one of his own, pushing further into her space. “If anyone else had disobeyed me the way you did today, I would have broken their fucking neck."

She mustered what bravado she could. “You don’t get to just—”

He slammed his hand on the end table right beside her, and she fell silent, her eyes wide and heart racing. “I am your pack leader. When I tell you to do something, you fucking _do it_!”

Rey drew back, unable to marshal a reply.

Ben also drew back and took a few deep breaths with his eyes closed and face turned to one side. His voice dropped into a hoarse murmur. “You put yourself in danger today. I told you to stay out of the way, and you didn’t. I told you to get away from him, and you didn’t. I told you to get out, and you didn’t.” He opened his eyes and pierced her with a hard look. “Do you see a pattern here?”

Her heart was beating too fast. “Poe is my friend—”

“And he wouldn’t hurt you?” He shook his head. “Rey, he’s a _newly turned alpha_. He has no fucking idea what’s going on or why his instincts were telling him to fight _me_ and claim _you_.” Rey swallowed, her indignation fading. “I had to put him on the floor again after you left, he was so worked up.”

“He… he wouldn’t…” Even she could hear how unsure she sounded, remembering the way Poe had grabbed her arm. She’d assumed it had been friendly, maybe comforting or protective, but… it could’ve been proprietary.

Ben sat on the edge of the sofa beside her and sighed, his shoulders falling, face taking on lines of weariness as the anger seemed to leach out of him. “It’s my fault,” he admitted. “I shouldn’t have let you in there in the first place. Omegas aren’t allowed near newly turned alphas, but you wanted to be there for him, and I have a soft spot for you.” He sighed again, ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry.”

She sat up, tucked a foot under herself. “Why didn’t you just tell me that instead of snapping at me?”

He raised a sardonic brow. “Yes, why didn’t I explain my lengthy reasoning while he gnawed around your neck for your mating gland.”

Rey’s brows rose, and she leaned away, not liking the picture he painted. Wanting to defend her friend. “He—”

“Has alpha instincts.” It was gentle, touched with sympathy. “Which I understand, and you don’t. Neither does he. Which means it would have been _my_ fault if he’d mated you.” He took a deep breath. “I explained the situation to him once he had himself under control. He was… embarrassed. It’s confusing for new wolves, these instincts.”

“You can resist,” she noted quietly, a note of challenge in her voice.

The way his eyes snapped in warning let her know he’d heard it. “I was born a wolf. I understand my instincts, and I’ve had a lot more time to acclimate to them. Poe doesn’t have any of that.”

Rey’s stomach did something unpleasant, and she couldn’t decide if it was rage or guilt. “That’s why Larma—?”

Ben’s mouth thinned, his jaw shifting, eyes skirting away. “She’s the mate of the previous pack leader. She understands that I can’t let anyone get away with disobeying my commands.” He rubbed his thumb absently against the seam on the edge of the couch cushion and chewed his bottom lip. “I’m lenient with you, Rey. I… care about you. And I tend to let my guard down with you.” His brown eyes were concerned when he flicked them up at her. “But I can’t let you get away with things like that. I can’t. You have a choice when my requests are personal, but when I tell you to do something as your pack leader, you _have_ to obey.” He huffed an unhappy breath, and it sounded like he wanted to be anywhere else as he added, “If you can’t, then you can’t stay in this pack.”

Rey jerked away, her voice coming out too high. “What?”

His scent gained new, confusing notes, but his expression was determined. “It’s dangerous, Rey. For you _and_ the pack. If others see you getting away with that kind of disrespect, they’re going to think they can get away with it, too, and eventually I’ll have to kill someone to get the rest in line.”

He was serious. Oh God, he was actually _serious_.

“You’re not the only wolf who hates following orders. Alphas, by our very _nature_ , despise it. We put up with it if someone is more dominant, but it doesn’t come naturally.” One side of his mouth quirked up. “You’re like an alpha that way.” The half-smile faded. “Listen. Rey. I’m not going to order you away from other alphas just because I don’t like it — it’s not my place to choose who you can spend time with, and, even if I wanted to, a pack leader’s jurisdiction doesn’t stretch that far.” He tilted his head to one side. “It’s my job to isolate Poe until he’s learned what he needs to know and then ease him into the pack and back into society. I failed him and you both today.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Would you really have broken someone else’s neck?”

He didn’t reply right away, his expression sober and searching. Finally, he said, “I would have beaten them down before it got to that point.” He was quiet for a moment. “Do you understand?”

She nodded slowly, though she didn’t know if it was a lie. It had never felt this way with Brance, but Brance himself had said that she’d only seen the peace, not how he’d formed it. And he’d always been kind to her, stern sometimes but like she thought a father might be stern. No one had tried to challenge his authority that she could remember. Obedience had been natural, like breathing, because she’d _wanted_ to obey. She’d wanted his approval.

“If you want an explanation for my orders, I don’t mind you asking. Just… _after_ you follow them.”

She nodded again, still with that vague sense that she wasn’t sure what she actually thought.

He covered her hand with one of his, his touch tentative, like he wasn’t sure she would allow it. “Are we… okay?”

Rey nodded, unable to do much else, distracted by the sour distress in her stomach. “I… I think so.”

His face spasmed, but he quickly schooled his expression. Stood. “Okay.” He looked at her for a moment, and she met his eye. He seemed sad. Tired. His scent was a mix of faded anger and regret. He nodded formally. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

She let him go and waited for his car to start before she covered her face with her hands and let herself feel absolutely, utterly miserable.

“You heard,” she sighed when she felt the cushion dip beside her.

“I heard.”

Rey dropped her hands and looked at Rose through red-rimmed eyes.

Rose just opened her arms, and Rey fell into them.

“I thought he was just being a dick,” she muttered into Rose’s shoulder, curling her knees onto her friend’s thighs. “That he was… jealous or something.”

Rose petted Rey’s hair. “It was a misunderstanding,” she said. After a minute, she asked, “Wanna watch Project Runway and get shitfaced? I have strawberry vodka.”

Rey smiled, though she felt it wobble. “British Bake Off and you’re on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I modeled the conflict in this chapter off of my kids asking me "why?" instead of getting out of the damn road like I told them to. Literally, one day my son was yelling "YOU'RE INTERRUPTING ME!" while standing in front of his school bus so it couldn't move. I had to count him to get him on the sidewalk, and once we got home I patiently worked him through the concept of "if you stand in the road, you might get hit by a car or scare drivers." He listens better now when I say, "This is a safety thing," but we still have those days where I have to yell at him not to race his sister down the stairs, or he tries to refuse to hold my hand on icy terrain. Like, ugh, just do what I say, kid!
> 
> **[Edit] SORRY!!! I was adding author's notes to Ch 12 and accidentally posted it. There was no content, so you missed nothing, just ellipses where I planned to copy/paste content.**
> 
> **I JUST ADDED A TINY SCENE AT THE START OF THIS CHAPTER. That should cover a bit of plotline I forgot to resolve. Thanks to folks who pointed out that Rey never talked about the attack again and probably wanted to know what happened.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Added a scene to Chapter 11 where Rey talks to Finn and Rose about the attack because a few people pointed out that her heat and the attack didn't get any resolution.**
> 
> In other news! Folks had some strong feelings about last chapter. Luckily, I have seen similar reactions while posting Soul Searching, so I'm not too worried. I'm very mean to my characters before they get to be happy, but hopefully everyone will like the way things resolve. *crosses fingers*
> 
> At least one person suggested I do something I'm planning to do next chapter, so grats! You win a cookie for getting that right.

Ben unlocked and pushed open the door to Poe’s room, Larma at his back.

He waited before entering and, as expected, Poe charged. Ben caught him and slammed him to the floor hard enough to crack his skull and daze him.

Ben looked down at the other alpha, then grabbed Poe’s arms and dragged him into his room, nodding at Larma to enter and lock it behind them.

This was not Ben’s first rodeo.

Thanks to Snoke’s indiscriminate recruitment policies in Vancouver, Ben had plenty of experience guiding new wolves through the change. Betas were easier to control, overall more inclined to fall in line. Omegas were trickier because their first heat usually started a month after the change, and they needed a different type of support to prepare for that. Snoke had discovered that he could calm omegas by including an alpha in the transition but that it also accelerated the timeline for their heat. Ben had arrived after the kinks had been worked out of _that_ system, but he could imagine how steep the learning curve had been.

Newly turned alphas, on the other hand, had to be put in their place over and over again until their wolf settled enough to accept the pecking order. It wasn’t in human nature to bend to someone else’s authority when it hadn’t been earned, but wolves were simpler. Instinct dictated pack structure. That made it the easier part. The _hard_ part was walking new wolves through the enormity of how their life had changed.

Ben was glad for Larma’s support on that front.

As Ben waited for Poe to heal enough to sit up and either attack again or talk, he tried not to dwell on how monumentally, terrifyingly stupid he’d been to let Rey in the room.

She could have been mated against her will right there in front of him, and it would have been _Ben’s_ fault.

Worse, Rey and her boss felt mutual affection for each other. They might have fought the mating bond, but it was entirely possible that they’d have given it a shot. It wasn’t like either of them would have been at _fault_ , really, and separating from one’s mate was so _very_ difficult.

The thought made him feel possessive and angry, sick with it. The incident had shaken him to his core, and he couldn’t let Rey find out _exactly_ how much it had terrified him.

He knew it would scare her, how invested he’d become.

He loved her.

And she wasn’t ready to hear it. Not yet. She’d feel pressured or trapped, or she’d just pity him.

He knew she didn’t feel the same way, but she favored him. He didn’t have to ask, saw it in the way she acted with him versus the way she acted with other alphas.

It occurred to Ben that he might have killed Poe if he’d bitten Rey, and that would have destroyed everything, too. For all it would have been a violation of her person, Rey wouldn’t want to see her friend hurt. It would have broken her fragile trust in Ben, and it would have been a nightmare to defend to the pack. Killing a new wolf and endangering an omega… for what? Because Ben had a hard time telling Rey no? Because her smile was sometimes the only thing he cared about? Because she’d been so worried, smelled so anxious about her friend, and cheering her up had been more important than her safety? Because he’d thought nothing could happen with him in the room?

_Idiot._

She couldn’t hate him any more than he hated himself just then.

Poe groaned and stirred, not quite sitting up, but it was enough of a signal for Ben.

“Can you understand me?” he asked, crouching near the other alpha. He kept his voice low in deference to what was probably a splitting headache.

Poe closed his eyes and nodded, swallowing. He was likely concussed, probably dizzy and nauseated.

It would fade.

“Do you know why you attacked me just now?”

Poe grimaced but got out a soft, “Instinct?”

Ben nodded, pleased. They’d talked about instinct after Rey had gone, about designations and why Poe had felt driven to fight over a woman who yesterday had been simply a coworker and friend. “Instinct. You smelled another alpha entering your territory, and you wanted to establish dominance. It’s normal.” It was important that Poe knew he wasn’t alone in feeling that way. All alphas had to deal with it. Ben had seen how much it helped new wolves to know that. “But I’m also something else. I’m the pack leader.”

Poe winced and pushed himself halfway to a sitting position. He seemed to be working through a thought, and Ben waited, letting him think. “Rey said you organized that picnic.”

Ben considered that. “I _ordered_ the picnic. We had guests, and I needed them surrounded by our pack. Our strength. It’s how we protect our own.”

Poe’s brow furrowed. “You’re not surrounded now.”

Ben smiled. “I don’t need to be.” He tilted his head to one side. “Born werewolves can’t take me. I don’t think a newly turned, concussed one is going to have much of a shot.”

Poe struggled to push himself up further, a mule-stubborn expression crossing his face.

“And that’s your instincts bucking under the idea that you can’t. Alpha instincts. Feel them, acknowledge them, then let it go.”

Poe tried to glare at him, but the pain in his eyes made it pathetic.

Ben almost felt bad about putting him down that hard.

Almost. He _was_ an alpha, after all. If he didn’t like establishing dominance, there would be something wrong with him.

“I am the pack leader,” Ben said softly. “You are a part of my pack until you’re in control enough to decide for yourself what pack you want to belong to.”

“So you’re the boss.” Sarcasm.

Ben’s instincts screamed at him to put Poe in his place. He batted the urge away. He needed to build trust, and that wouldn’t do it, not with Poe’s human mindset. If Poe attacked first, Ben could check him, but he had to let the words go. Another pack member couldn't get away with it, of course — a challenge was a challenge — but Ben had to give Poe some leeway while he adjusted.

Besides, new alphas were predictably volatile; Ben would have another chance.

“Pack leaders defend the pack. We’re the hammer, the diplomat, and the general. We make the decisions. Others obey.”

Poe grunted, his eyes clearing a little more. He was healing. Good. “Sounds like a dictatorship.”

“It is.” Ben watched Poe’s face darken, and he softened a bit toward the man. He knew it was… a lot. “Werewolves don’t live like humans. We’re more aggressive, more primal. We protect our secret, and we protect each other, banding together in packs for mutual survival. We adapt to pass in human society, but we aren’t human. We don’t think the same way.”

“I do.”

“For now,” Ben agreed. Maybe for a long time. Some changed wolves clung to human ideals longer than was prudent. Ben wondered if Poe would be one of the ones who protested _everything_ , battering his fists uselessly against millennia of entrenched tradition, an ant screaming at a tidal wave. There had been several in Snoke’s pack. A few of them had even survived to help form the current Vancouver pack. Ben made a mental note to visit in a few years, see if they’d managed to make a new sort of pack with so many changed wolves. It seemed laughable, a wolf pack trying to do things the way humans did, but it would be worth seeing if it worked. “It’s harder for new wolves to acclimate at your age.”

“Hey,” Poe protested, but it lacked bite.

Ben felt the corners of his mouth twitch up. “But you will. You’ll learn to think like a wolf, to trust your instincts — and to control them.”

Poe breathed for a second, staring down at his hand braced on the floor. “Is Rey okay?”

Ben didn’t know. She’d been pale when he’d left. He’d done damage, and not the physical kind. His wolf was clawing at him to repair it, but he didn’t know how. He couldn’t apologize for doing his damn job. And it _was_ a job, just as much as it satisfied his instincts to be in charge. Larma knew how much work it was, had stood by Brance’s side, knew what it took to be an effective pack leader. Ben resisted casting a glance her way. The pack leader’s mate had to submit to set an example. Willingly. A defiant mate suggested a weak leader.

But telling Poe any of that wouldn’t help him, so Ben said, “Yeah. She’s okay.”

“Tell her I’m sorry?” Poe sat up a little straighter, eyes clearer. The concussion was almost gone, then.

Ben chewed on his lip for a moment. “I will. But you have nothing to apologize for. It was entirely my fault.”

Poe pushed himself to sit up and hugged his knees. “I hate this.”

Ben reached out and clapped a hand on Poe’s shoulder, scenting him. It was a gamble because it calmed some wolves and agitated others, and Ben wouldn’t know which Poe was until he tried. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Poe nodded, and Ben took his hand away, not wanting to push his luck.

So far, so good.

Poe touched the back of his own head. His fingers came away bloody, though Ben was sure any cuts would have healed by now. “Ow.”

“Pain is part of being a werewolf. You’ll get used to it.”

“I don’t want to,” Poe muttered, wiping his hand on his borrowed sweats.

Ben smiled despite himself, surprised and pleased. Poe sounded petulant, not broken. The wolves who took the longest to find control were the defeated ones, shell-shocked and afraid and reacting on instinct. They were often the ones who'd been turned more violently, hunted down like animals by Snoke's personal guard.

Ben really had _hated_ Snoke.

But it seemed like Poe would be one of the easier transitions.

* * *

“You’re worried about Rey,” Larma said as they left Poe a few hours later. They'd talked to him and fed him and encouraged him to get some sleep. He'd taken only one more shot at Ben, and Ben had been a little kinder with him the second time.

“Always,” Ben replied, tired.

“You talked to her?”

He hummed his assent.

Larma touched his shoulder, her expression sympathetic. “Either she can handle it, or she can’t. And if she can't… she really shouldn't be with a pack leader.”

Ben closed his eyes, trying not to show how badly that hurt. “I know.”

“Your father obeyed your mother, yes?”

Ben’s lips quirked, the memories brushing his pain away, and he opened his eyes. “Not at home.”

Larma snorted. “Well, no. But when it mattered? When there was danger?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Yeah, he did what needed to be done. But he also knew what was going on around him. He’d suggest an alternate route if he thought mom’s wouldn’t work.”

“That’s advice, not defiance.”

He smiled and glanced away. “They would bicker _so_ much.”

“Rey’s too young to know what needs to be done.”

“She’s just inexperienced. I should have explained things better before we went in.”

“Yeah, you fucked up.”

Ben barked out a laugh and held the outside door open for Larma to step through. “Don’t go easy on me, now.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” She turned on her heel and tilted her head back to look him in the eye. “Taslin was always too easy on her. Had a soft spot for the kid. So did I. She had a tough childhood. Deserved a break.” She sighed and looked away. “Maybe if we’d gone a little harder on her, she’d be better prepared.”

Ben shook his head. “You took care of her. You did good.”

Larma searched his expression for a long moment. “Your first fight isn’t the end of the world.”

Sudden prickling at the backs of his eyes surprised him. His chest felt tight. “I’m worried I broke something.”

“She’s resilient. I’ve seen it.” Larma lifted a hand and put it on his cheek, a motherly gesture. “Though if you try to take advantage of that girl by using your position, I will gut you in your sleep. Got it?”

He laughed because he believed her, and because it was nice knowing she was watching out for Rey. “Got it.”

* * *

Rey banged on Ben’s apartment door, her intoxication level still high enough that this seemed like a good idea. She'd texted Larma to demand his address when this first occurred to her, and she'd biked all the way over. A lot of the alcohol should have burned off during the bike ride, but she'd finished the last of the strawberry vodka while pedaling.

She _may_ have fallen off her bike at one point.

The alcohol in her system would dissipate in the next half hour, werewolf healing being what it was, so she needed to do this _now_ before her head cleared.

The door swung open, and she blinked up at Ben, who seemed confused to see her.

She’d been halfway planning to knee him in the nuts and run, but then her eyes started to fill and she sniffled.

His nostrils flared as he took everything in, and, without a word, he scooped her off her feet and started to lick the glands on her neck, kicking the door shut behind them as he brought her further in and sat on a dark blue sofa with her on his lap.

Rey buried her face in his neck, rubbing her nose along his glands. His scent calmed her more and more until the tears dried up, and she sagged bonelessly against him, exhausted.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, resting his cheek on her hair.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she whispered some time later.

“I’m not an expert on omegas by any means, but I would guess your instincts are acting up.” He nuzzled her hair, the scent of alpha surrounding her as his heart beat steadily against her palm.

She nuzzled into his shirt, sniffing him. He’d showered recently. Even considering the amount of time werewolves spent in the woods and being active, they tended to keep their bodies and homes cleaner than humans did. It was the enhanced sense of smell, really. Clean sweat boosted a person’s individual scent, but body odor suited _no one_.

“I’m never this emotional,” she complained. “Never. Not unless…” Then she groaned, reminded of the second reason heats _sucked_.

Ben raised a brow at her. “Unless?”

She grumbled it into his chest. “Unless I’m on my period.”

He delicately, surreptitiously sniffed the air.

Rey patted him. “Not bleeding yet. Trust me, you’d know. The smell is… loud.”

He nodded, glancing thoughtfully at her crotch before jerking his eyes away like he’d just realized how inappropriate that was.

Her period was hell in every possible way, and she didn’t like subjecting anyone else to it, so she pulled back, forcing him to drop his arms from around her. As the alcohol started to leave her system, she realized how careful his touch was, how unlike his usual eagerness to put his hands on her. She didn’t know if it was because she was drunk or because something had changed between them. She was suddenly eager to get away. “I should get home before it starts.”

Ben stood when she did, his eyes wide and a little desperate. “You don’t have to go.”

She looked away from that pleading gaze. “I doubt you have heavy-flow pads lying around.”

“I could pick some up,” he offered. Rey stared at him, but he didn’t even twitch under her scrutiny. He looked earnest, eager, maybe even apologetic.

“Seriously? You… _want_ me to stay?”

He stepped into her space, running his palms down her arms and taking her hands, expression vulnerable. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I mean… you did kind of threaten to throw me out of the pack earlier.” And that didn’t still sting _at all_.

He winced, but his voice was firm when he said, “I have to set boundaries as your pack leader.” Then he brought one hand up to cup her cheek and ran his thumb along her lips. “But I’m not your pack leader right now, not here. Not when it’s just us.” Back and forth across her lips, dipping in when she parted them.

He let out a shaky breath when she touched it with her tongue.

“You’d really be seen buying pads for me?” she asked, ignoring the heavier subject. When he nodded, she narrowed assessing eyes at him. “What about tampons?”

“To keep you here? Anything.”

She looked up at him, into those bottomless brown eyes. “Would you really throw me out of the pack?”

His eyes looked wet, and he couldn’t hide it from her now, how much it hurt him to say these things. His eyes betrayed him. “Yeah.” His jaw rolled. “I’d give you up to protect you. If you aren’t safe here, if I can’t keep you safe…” He shook his head as if to clear it. “It would kill me to do it, but I can’t protect you if you don’t listen. I need you to be safe. If anything happened to you, I—” He pressed his forehead against hers, breath shuddering out. “God, Rey. I don’t know what I’d do.” His mouth worked with emotions she could smell on him, mostly fear and stress, and his eyes glinted with something that didn’t have a scent. Something she wasn’t quite ready to put into words. “When I saw you covered in all that blood…”

“Shh,” she whispered, pulling him down, letting him press his face against her shoulder, petting his hair as he took gasping breaths. She hadn’t been sure, when she’d been on her way over, what she’d wanted. Drunk Rey had been very confused, both fragile _and_ belligerent, but her head was clearing now and she found herself slipping into a quiet place in her mind.

After clinging together a while longer, she decided to stay, and sent Ben out not just for pads but with an entire shopping list, one that sent him to three different stores.

She prowled his space while he was out, and if it was partly to distract herself from trying to figure out what the hell she was doing there in the first place, she chose not to dwell on that.

The bathroom wasn’t too offensive to her sensitive nose. He seemed to go through toilet bowl cleaner about as fast as she and her roommates did, and the shower smelled heavily of him, a bit like the dirt and sweat and other unfortunate fluids he cleaned off in there, but also like soap and clean skin and the unscented shampoo he used. There was an electric razor and shaving cream on the sink, tiny hairs scattered across it. He had a toothbrush in the medicine cabinet, cleaning supplies under the sink, and an open package of q-tips in a drawer.

His bedroom smelled strongly of alpha, old come, and bedsheets that needed changing.

She resisted the urge to roll around in them.

Unpacked boxes had been stacked along the edges of the living room. A modest TV was perched on top of a functional, unlovely stand.

His couch was nicer than hers, perhaps because he’d spent more on it but probably because it didn’t see the heavy use hers did. When she put her nose against it, she caught the slightest hint of semen, as if he jerked off here occasionally but did his best not to get it on the upholstery.

She was completely sober and poking through his kitchen cabinets when he got back, standing on her tiptoes to pull down a bag of trail mix and look at the ingredients list. “You have three types of jerky.”

No chocolate in the trail mix. Lame.

She put it back.

“That stuff is for my work hikes, in case I don’t have time to hunt. Here,” he added, setting a plastic sack on the counter beside her, a tempting smell wafting out. “I thought you might be hungry.”

She turned and snatched the sack open, mouth watering at the rotisserie chicken inside.

He looked pleased and a bit smug as she pulled it out and popped the top off, breathing deep before tugging a strip off and slipping it between her lips.

“Mmm,” she hummed, chewing. Then she opened her eyes and watched him unload the rest of the things she’d sent him for. It looked like he’d found everything. “Did you get this place before or after challenging Brance?”

“After,” he replied easily. “Stupid to lock myself into a lease before I won.” He set a pack of chocolate on the counter. “I looked at a couple places other than this one, but two had mildew problems, one was on the first floor, and one was beside a lady who had cats and, from the stench that made it all the way out to the hallway, not enough litter boxes.”

“What’s wrong with living on the first floor?” she asked as she sliced open one of his unopened moving boxes and peeked inside to find a quilt that looked old and well-cared-for. It smelled like Ben but was underscored by the scents of other wolves, scents worked into the fabric over what must have been years. One of them seemed familiar, like a snippet of song she couldn’t quite place.

“People walking around overhead.”

She looked up at him where he’d begun putting things away, and it took her a moment to remember what she’d asked. “Ah.” She nodded and closed the box back up, leaving the confusing quilt alone.

“Have you always lived in a house?”

She nodded and opened another moving box, finding pots and pans that hadn’t seen use in some time. She wondered how he fed himself. “We skipped the apartment phase, went straight to a rental house. The landlord likes us because we don’t cause problems, and we fix our own plumbing issues.”

“Really,” he said, amused.

Rey smirked over her shoulder at him. “I’m handy as fuck, mister.”

“Damn,” he said mildly, setting three packages of heavy-duty pads on the counter and nudging them her way. “There goes my chance to show you how useful I am at repairing things.”

“How useful _are_ you at repairing things?”

He grinned. “Not very.” He shrugged, looking away. “But I would have learned. For you.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she grabbed the chicken and took it over to the couch. “Do you have Netflix or something?”

“I do.” He sat at the other end of the couch, but she still felt the cushions sink. His queue seemed to suggest a lot of documentaries and thought-provoking drama. “What are you in the mood for?”

“Something dumb,” she replied, slicing a chicken leg off with a claw and handing it to him.

He took it with the hand that wasn’t holding the remote and raised a brow at her. “You’re going to have to narrow it down for me.”

“Here,” she said, reaching for the remote and pulling it out of his hand. She saw the narrow-eyed look he sent as chicken juice smeared onto it from her fingers, but he didn’t say anything.

“This one,” she said.

He looked vaguely confused for a moment, and then his face twisted into consternation. “What.”

“Trust me,” she assured him, and hit play.

He sighed. “You did want stupid.”

She sliced the other leg off the chicken and tossed the remote between them.

“So,” he said once they’d picked the chicken clean, “when does the tornado show up?”

“Later,” she assured him. She scraped idly at the chicken carcass, looking for more meat. It hadn’t escaped her that he’d let her have the lion’s share, accepting what she handed him but not reaching to take any for himself.

“How _much_ later? Because I’m just seeing sharks and some physics-breaking situations here. And I’m a _werewolf_. I literally turn into a wolf. There’s a huge amount of belief I’m willing to suspend.”

She put her leg out to nudge him with her toes. “That’s the fun of it.”

“They’ve used the same shark stock footage three different times.”

She laughed and set the decimated chicken aside, giving up on prying any more meat from it. Licking her fingers, she wiggled over to lean against him. “It’s ‘Sharknado.’ It’s not _supposed_ to be realistic.”

His arm came up to wrap around her. “Good, because it’s not.”

She poked him, and he laughed.

As she settled into his side, tired from the last week of fear, stress, and heat, she decided it wouldn’t hurt to leave off thinking about anything until later.

* * *

The cramping started that evening as Rey brushed her teeth with one of the three toothbrushes Ben had brought home. (“I wasn’t sure what color you’d want,” he’d said.) He’d already set the pads in the bathroom for her, so she sat on the toilet and put one on, relieved not to find a bright bloom of blood in her underwear. She could smell it coming, the faintest hint of copper between her legs, turning her scent sour.

She hated the feel of pads, hated how they crinkled like a diaper, how every wolf could hear it even if they couldn’t smell it like a punch to the nose, but she didn’t have much choice. Even the largest tampons wouldn’t staunch her flow for long.

Omega periods were heavier than beta periods. She had to change pads every hour, and she had to stay hydrated so her body could replenish the lost blood.

Her healing would run non-stop to make up for blood loss as her uterus slowly scraped its insides out, contracting like it was punishing her for not getting pregnant.

It was exhausting.

Ben looked up the moment she exited the bathroom, silent and alert as she curled miserably onto the couch and lay her head on his lap. His fingers drifted across her hair, and she pressed into the touch, encouraging him with a hum when he threaded his fingers through it, over and over, soothing.

When the scent of blood burst into the air, she whimpered and curled up tighter, embarrassed by the smell and the vulnerability of her position.

“What can I do?” he asked softly, scraping her hair back from her forehead.

“Heating pad,” she murmured. It was one of the things she’d sent him to buy. “And a blanket.”

He stood, careful not to jostle her more than necessary, and fetched the items, plugging the heating pad into an extension cord so it would reach her. Rey took it and pressed it against her abdomen, sighing in relief as he draped a blanket over her body. It smelled like the one from his bedroom, thick with his scent.

She lifted her head for him to sit back down and resumed using his thigh as a pillow, then wiggled onto her back and tucked an edge of blanket under her in case she leaked past all the other barriers.

She didn’t think she could look him in the eye again if she left menstrual blood on his couch.

* * *

It was a little after midnight, and she’d just changed her pad again. She was exhausted, and Ben had to be as well. He’d fallen asleep during the last lull, his head dipping until his chin touched his chest.

Rey had given up on finding an amusing movie after “Sharknado” and had put “Parks and Rec” on with the volume low enough they could hear it if they wanted but ignore it if they didn’t.

She settled the heating pad back in place, tucked the blanket under and around her, and rested her cheek on Ben’s thigh. It was comfortable, meaty with muscle.

His fingers drew through her hair, and she sighed softly, body relaxing.

She wasn’t ready for a mate. He knew that. But she could admit to herself that she’d let him in. If she wanted a mate, if she had to choose, he’d be at the top of her list.

But it rankled, the way he’d told her he understood that she didn’t like to follow orders. That he thought it was that simple.

So she took a deep breath and said, “I was feral.”

His fingers went still. He knew what it meant, all wolves did. It was how it’d been explained to her, a simple word to describe the painful experience of surviving alone in the wilderness for so long that you almost forgot you could be anything other than wolf.

“Not sure how long. The days kind of bled together, but I remember two distinct winters.” Another breath. “I was ten, I think, when the alpha found me.” Ben’s fingers moved to clasp her shoulder, fear in his touch, and she palmed his knee to soothe him. “I hadn’t presented yet. He was older, just passing through, and nice enough. Gruff but concerned. He said it wouldn’t hurt if I just _met_ the local pack. I was wary, but he kept talking, and he brought me food, said I was too skinny. Never tried to touch me but bullied me into eating whatever he brought. Told me I didn’t even have to shift to human to go with him if I didn’t want.” She shrugged. “I guess he knew I’d feel safer with claws and teeth.”

Ben’s fingers started their path through her hair again. “He brought you here?”

She nodded against his thigh. “Brance did the rest of the convincing. Once they knew I’d stay, Larma cleaned me up and fed me.” She smiled at the memory of her first proper bath in ages. She used to dip in streams to clean her fur, but Larma had guided her into a bathtub and used unscented shampoo. She’d been achingly gentle, perhaps aware that Rey would startle easily, and Rey had snapped her teeth afterward as Larma had tried to comb through her fur. They’d had to cut the mats out.

“Where was your family?”

Rey turned her head so she could look up at him, jostling his fingers loose. “I followed my parents’ trail for days at first. Then it rained, and I lost it, and decided it was best to stay in that area in case they came back the same way.”

Rey liked to think that they’d been leading danger away, that they’d tangled with it to protect her, but every now and then she remembered days from before they’d disappeared when she’d gone hungry and nights she’d curled up in her fur to keep warm. The memories unsettled her, so she pushed them down until something made them bob back to the surface.

He rubbed his thumb over her cheekbone. “They didn’t?”

“No.”

“Did they ever—?”

Just over a decade later, and there had been no whispers of a werewolf couple looking for their lost pup. “Brance put out feelers. No one ever came forward.” It was like being stabbed in the heart to say it out loud.

Ben’s fingers continued through her hair until her eyes fluttered shut and she fell asleep.

* * *

Rey woke from a light doze to the sounds of Ben moving around in his bedroom. When he strode out holding a rucksack and saw her awake, he set it down and came to crouch beside her, brushing hair back from her face. “Hey,” he murmured.

Her heart was beating a little too fast. She frowned drowsily at him. “Are you going somewhere?”

“There’s a wildfire. Small, but I need to check on Poe before I head to the station. Are you okay here?”

She nodded, unable to do much else.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and finished tying up his rucksack and stuffing his feet into his boots. “I’ll be back. Get some rest.”

Then he was out the door.

* * *

The “small wildfire” kept Ben away for three days. Rey googled news on it after the first day and saw that it had grown teeth enough that reinforcements had been called in.

She worried.

When she woke to Ben’s heavy footsteps in the hall and the clink of his keys as he pulled them out, she pushed herself up and over to the door, swinging it open before he could get his keys in the lock.

The tired smile that broke across his face made her heart flutter, and she found herself pulling him inside, kicking the door shut, and kissing him until the choking scent of smoke forced her to back off.

He dropped his rucksack and started to untie his boots, sending her smiling glances she might categorize as _shy_ if he hadn’t been relentlessly pursuing her for the past several weeks.

“Shower,” she said once he had his boots off. She guided him firmly toward the bathroom and let herself enjoy the expanse of skin he exposed as he shucked his shirt. The broad line of his back made her breath catch as he leaned over the tub to start the shower.

His shirt went into a laundry hamper, and he raised a brow as his hands fell to his pants. “Want to join me?”

She bit her lip because she _did_. But.

“I don’t mind a little blood,” he assured her, eyes soft.

She squeezed her thighs together. Her flow had eased, but that didn’t mean it had stopped. It would keep going for another day or two.

He reached and kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to.”

Then he dropped his pants, his underwear, and stepped in, pulling the curtain shut without another glance her way.

It took Rey maybe ten seconds to start breathing again.

She debated with herself for a moment more, then groaned and started shedding clothes.

“Don’t look,” she commanded as she slipped in behind him. She didn’t want him to see the blood. It felt dirty somehow, shameful. Different from blood from a bitten lip or the warm gush of prey under her teeth.

He nodded, facing the spray, blocking most of it, and offered her a bar of soap that she took politely. “Washcloths under the sink, if you need one,” he added.

Rey considered the crime scene between her legs and stepped carefully out to hunt one up.

White. Of course.

And cheap, so it scraped at her skin as she rubbed the soapy cloth over her armpits and across her glands, releasing her scent thickly into the air. She saw Ben roll his shoulders at that, but he didn’t turn around, just scrubbed a second round of shampoo into his smoke-infused hair.

Menstrual blood showed bright on the cloth, and with him blocking the spray she couldn’t easily rinse it. She did her best with the little water that got past him, but eventually she needed to properly rinse herself.

“Could I get some water?” she asked, and in response he stepped closer to the spigot and adjusted it so it sprayed over his shoulder. Rey rinsed herself in the warm, fresh water gratefully, squeezing blood out of the washcloth and dipping her head under the stream.

She handed the soap back to Ben and asked for shampoo, watched with her hands in her hair as he used the bar directly on his skin, scrubbing away work and wildfire and dirt and the underlying scent of an alpha who’d been marinating in his own pungent sweat for days.

Even with the soothing pheromones alphas produced, it was not a pleasant smell.

It turned pleasanter with every pass he made over his skin, though, peeling the layers of stink away until the terrible scents were watered down and swirling toward the drain.

He left washing his glands for last, and the burst of scent had slick mixing with the blood between Rey’s legs, trailing thinly down the insides of her thighs.

He went still for a moment, then resumed washing, being as thorough with his glands as he’d been with the rest of his body.

Rey stepped closer. “I need to rinse my hair.”

He started to turn his head to reply and stopped himself, snapping it forward. “I can hop out,” he said. “I’m done.”

She set a hand on his shoulder to stop him and draw him back. “No need.” And she began to squeeze past him, her skin brushing against his as he turned to let her by, his breath catching loudly as her abdomen dragged along his cock.

He was fully hard.

She wondered how long he’d been like that.

Perhaps she was a little bit evil, because she made a show of rinsing her hair, running her hands over her glands and down her body, and his groan made her smile into the showerhead.

If she was evil, he certainly didn’t seem to mind.

When she met his eyes again, he was examining her expression. Trying to figure her out. There were shadows under his eyes like he hadn’t slept much the last few days.

She reached up and pulled his face down to hers, kissing across his brows and jaw. Her lips met his, and she realized neither of them had brushed their teeth recently.

Whatever. She deepened the kiss, and he groaned, pulling their hips flush so that the hard line of his cock pressed against her belly.

Rey wondered how much of the forest they’d lost. How hard he’d fought to stop the blaze. Whether the burnt patch was somewhere the pack liked to run.

She imagined him there, coordinating with other firefighters, enduring the painful scent of so much smoke burning in his nostrils because he had a job to do and was determined to do it.

She licked inside his mouth and pulled back. Ben let her go, lips red from her attentions, but his half-lidded eyes widened when she sank to her knees.

The first lick had him gripping the curtain rod and shuffling his legs apart.

She’d never done this before, but the principle seemed straightforward enough, and his precome on her tongue had her shaking and leaking, her pheromones exploding into the air.

His head tipped back as an animal noise tore out of his throat.

She mostly used her tongue to trace the shape of him, from the mushroomed tip to the slight bulge at the base of his shaft, the knot that teased with the promise to inflate and lock them together.

He made wounded noises that mixed with the sound of water hitting porcelain, and Rey was careful when she wrapped her lips around him and took him a few inches inside, sucking just the slightest bit, testing it.

He only got out a choked _Rey_ before he was coming, flooding her mouth with a roar as his muscles clenched and the curtain rod broke free, falling on both of them.

It was Ben who turned off the water and lifted the curtain off of Rey, expression sheepish, maybe even embarrassed, as he set it aside. He knelt in front of her and kissed her, tender and almost chaste, before helping her up and finding her a towel. His knot hadn’t formed, and Rey wondered if the circumstances had been wrong. She’d heard that only omegas triggered it, but she’d assumed it happened every time.

Unless… was that it? Maybe… maybe it _felt_ larger than it looked?

They got dressed without speaking, moving around each other like they’d been doing it for years. Brushed their teeth together at the sink.

He blow-dried her hair, then his own, and Rey felt calm and sleepy afterward. She usually let her hair dry on its own, but it was nice to have him tending her, and nicer to be shuffled into his big bed, tucked in with her heating pad, and not have to worry about a damp pillow.

Ben climbed under the covers on the other side, a hand against her arm the only point of contact as his breathing evened out and he succumbed to exhaustion.

* * *

“It’s not fair,” Ben was saying as he plated scrambled eggs while Rey scrolled through his Netflix account. “I’ve been dying to eat you out since we first met, and now you’re willing to let me, except you won’t because you’re bleeding.”

“Oh no, it’s the end of the world,” she mocked lightly.

“Feels like it,” he muttered, sitting beside her and handing her a plate.

She paused on an apocalypse movie and gave him a significant look, then scrolled on because she didn’t need more death just then.

Except… she smiled. Apocalypse plus zombies plus comedy.

Perfect.

She hit play and set the remote aside to pick up her fork.

“You’re a sadist,” Ben told her as the intro began to roll.

She shook her head. “Trust me, this one is actually pretty good.”

“I will never trust you again,” he replied easily around a bite of eggs. “Not after ‘Sharknado.’”

* * *

Ben went to check on Poe after breakfast. It had been too long, and Ben had worried about how Larma and Brance had been doing with him in Ben’s absence. They had almost no experience with new wolves, and Ben’s instructions had been rushed due to time constraints.

No attack came as Ben opened the door this time, though Poe looked tense from his position on the small, spare bed he’d been provided. The room was windowless, the door reinforced, the furniture bolted down. He sat cross-legged and held a book in his hands, something Larma must have brought him.

“Hello,” Poe said, eyes narrowing, jaw clenching like he was holding onto his instincts by a thread.

Larma had been doing well with him, it seemed. Good.

“Hi,” Ben replied, stepping in and shutting the door behind himself. He stayed in front of it, making sure Poe would have to go through Ben to reach it.

Poe’s nostrils flared, and he frowned. “You smell weird.”

Ben leaned back against the door and crossed his arms. “Like smoke?”

Poe considered, then finally nodded. “A little bit. But other things, too.”

“Scrambled eggs,” Ben suggested. “Coffee. Toothpaste.”

Poe was quiet for another few moments, inhaling, brow furrowed in concentration. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Ben nodded. “I helped with a wildfire the last few days. The scent has lingered a bit, even after showering.” He watched Poe consider that. “You smell breakfast on me, and you’re probably picking up my scent, too.” It was mixed with Rey’s, but Ben didn’t think it wise to bring her up just then. It would be a while before Poe could separate all the scent layers, before he knew her scent and Ben’s well enough to identify the two of them. A more experienced wolf could tell that Ben had shared space with her long enough for her scent to stick to his clothes and skin.

It wasn’t thick enough to indicate sex, thankfully, so no one would be able to tell she’d put her mouth on him. He tried not to read too much into it, himself.

He wanted to. Wanted to assume it meant more than it did, that she loved him back, that she wanted to be his mate, wanted to bear his pups.

“Everyone has a unique scent,” he told Poe instead of thinking about the hot, wet suction of Rey’s mouth. “You’ll get used to filtering through all the input, but it’ll be overwhelming at first. Especially your first trip out.”

Poe’s head came up, fingers tightening on the paperback. “Soon?”

Ben considered. They’d start by introducing him to a few of the more dominant betas, see how much input he could handle in a controlled environment where it wouldn’t matter if he lost control. After that, they’d gradually increase his exposure to more people and scents, other alphas, and finally the pack’s omegas. “We’ll start in a few days. Once you can be around the whole pack without losing control, we can start integrating you back into human society.” He’d never be fully part of that society again, though. Even his family would have to be kept in the dark. Safer for everyone that way.

Poe fidgeted with the book in his lap. “What will happen to my job?”

“Whatever happens, happens. It’s most important to make sure you’re safe to be around other people. You’ve put in for emergency vacation time?”

Poe nodded. “They think I had to have surgery. Appendectomy.”

“We’ll see how it goes, then. You have some time to acclimate, but I’m not sure if you’ll _want_ to keep that job.”

Poe shook his head and shifted, agitated. “I love working at the center—”

“It stinks there,” Ben said bluntly. “For our kind, it’s almost painful. It depends on you; as an alpha, you have a better sense of smell than most; you might not be able to handle it.”

“Alpha,” Poe said, setting his book aside and standing to pace his small room. “Designations. You told me about them, but that lady, Larma, she filled in some blanks and, holy shit, it’s like bad porn. Heats? Ruts? _Mating?!_ What the hell are you people _on_?”

Ben snorted. He supposed it did sound like bad porn.

He took a deep breath and watched Poe pace, muscles tensing in case the new alpha worked himself up too much.

“Our pack has three unmated omegas, all in their early twenties. Your instincts are going to tell you to claim one of them, because your instincts care more about fucking than consent. My job is to get you to a point where you can resist.”

Poe stopped pacing and planted his hands on his waist, frowning down at a chair. His cheeks flushed red under rough dark stubble. “Rey’s an omega.”

Ben nodded, hating this line of conversation. “Rey is tough, but she trusts you. She didn’t know about the danger.” Poe winced, and Ben sighed. “What happened… it wasn’t your fault. I knew better than to put you two in the same room until you’d had time to work on your control. It was my failure, not yours.”

Poe watched him thoughtfully for a long minute. Finally, he said, “Okay.” He flopped back onto the bed and grinned. “Your fault. I can live with that.”

Ben snorted. “You’re not going to try and make me feel better about it?”

Poe arched a mocking brow. “Is that what my _instincts_ should be telling me?”

It surprised a laugh out of Ben, and he shook his head. “No. They should be telling you the opposite.”

Poe spread his hands in a _there you go_ motion.

Ben smiled and tilted his head, examining Poe’s deceptively casual sprawl. “I think you might fit in better than I originally thought.”

Poe waggled his brows, and Ben laughed again.

Yeah. He’d be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a line in the scene with Poe at the start that I'd like to expound on: Ben thinks it would be worse if Rey stayed mated to Poe than if she were mated against her will in the first place. A selfish thought, but true from his perspective because a forced mating bite can be temporary but the other would mean losing her for good. This doesn't mean that he'd be indifferent to any pain she'd go through. He's not heartless, just really wants a happily ever after, and one of those options still lets him hope. I can understand not liking the way he thinks, but (even with this) he still fits my criteria for a romantic lead.
> 
> Also, referencing Larma earlier, the Luna Venari is not considered to be an abuse of power but instead an ancient and somewhat rare tradition. To most werewolves, it wouldn't fall under the abuse of power umbrella. You may disagree with her, but that's how I'm writing the werewolf culture.
> 
> Hopefully, the way they came back together here felt organic. I think Rey's period probably started faster than it ought to irl, but let's just hand-wave that. And I like the idea of her omega instincts being all up in her face during her period, plus getting drunk giving her the idea of going over to his place with no real plan feels more realistic than a sober Rey running to over there for... hand-wave-y reasons?
> 
> Sorry if there's any plot holes. I wrote it pretty fast. If there's something small you felt was left unresolved, feel free to lemme know. (Like Ben passing on Poe's "sorry" to Rey. I forgot about that. Wasn't Ben being a dick, just me being forgetful.)
> 
> Nothing ready yet on next chapter, but if I get a good chunk done to post on Christmas, I'll up the chapter count by one and post what I have. (Somehow I've been able to write while watching the kids, it's a Christmas miracle.)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Trigger warning:** Undernegotiated rough sex. Further details and where to skip in the endnotes.
> 
>  **I mentioned this in a reply to a comment from last chapter, but it seems like a good note:** werewolf culture seems to be causing cognitive dissonance in some readers, and that’s okay. I don’t mind anyone trying to defend the ideals of respect, kindness, or gentleness, because those are important things. I married a guy who’s respectful and kind and gentle. I like me them nice guys. My brother’s a nice guy, my dad’s one of those gruff Vietnam vet types who also taught me that real men cry and say I love you and don’t hit people except in self-defense (he told me he’d have my back if I ever had to punch someone at school to defend myself, which I thankfully never had to).
> 
> Werewolf society is accepting of violence when it’s _used for a purpose_. The moment Ben threw Rey against the wall seems to be one of the bigger issues being discussed, so I’ll give you my reasoning why he hasn’t apologized for it: challenging a pack leader is serious business, and Rey accidentally challenged Ben during a situation that had his adrenaline going from fear. He was not her suitor in that room, not from the moment they stepped inside, and he didn’t let her off the hook just because he’s courting her. In werewolf culture, his actions were appropriate for his role at the time. (On a more forgiving note, he didn’t actually know he’d injured her. Things were a bit hectic. He’d feel bad if he knew he had.)
> 
> :D I've been making more author's notes than I usually like to, but that seemed worth discussing. Again, I do love how much this community cares about consent and respect and kindness, and I'm not offended by anyone getting into the story enough to say something. (The only not okay thing is when a writer is attacked for a character's failings. That's not cool. But I don't think that's happened here, that I can recall. It's the difference between "I think that character is awful" and "I think you support awful people and/or are an awful person because you wrote this.")

“I’m sorry, but no. We’re dealing with a newly turned wolf, and Rey is still under the weather.”

Rey looked over at Ben’s closed bedroom door, where he’d taken the call. It provided an illusion of privacy, but they both knew she could hear him.

“I don’t _care_ if you don’t like it. Outsiders aren’t welcome in my territory right now.” A pause, then a growl entered his voice. “If you come without permission, you forfeit your life.” Another pause, longer this time. A snarl. “ _You can try._ ”

Moments later, something crashed against the wall, and Rey jerked in alarm. She blinked at the door, but all was silent, so she carefully stood and went to peek inside.

Ben sat on the end of his bed, head in his hands, phone on the blanket beside him. He looked up, startled, and blinked at her.

She glanced around and spotted the pieces of his alarm clock by the far wall. “You okay?” She entered without waiting for an invitation and sat beside him. His arm slipped around her waist, and he rubbed his chin against her hair, inhaling deeply.

“Your suitors are restless.” He sighed. “They didn’t like being kept away during your heat, but they backed off. Now they think they should be allowed to swoop right back in even though you still feel like shit and Poe is going to be taking up most of my time.”

She frowned at the phone on the bed. “They’re trying to come anyway?”

He let out a deep sigh. “The concern,” he said softly, “is that if I put them off too much, they’ll say I’m hiding you from them, refusing to follow the rules. Breaking tradition. Being selfish. Take your pick.” He let out a frustrated breath. “They’ll use it as an excuse to group up and take me down.”

Rey drew back to look up at him, horrified. “That’s bullshit. They can’t do that.”

Ben smiled sadly and stroked her hair back from her face. “That’s werewolf politics.” His shoulders drooped, and he picked up his phone. “They know I’m weak right now. That I’m distracted by Poe, that they can get away with things they couldn’t a few weeks ago. They’ve been waiting for their chance to attack.”

Rey shook her head. “Greer hasn’t. Or that guy courting Korrie.”

“True,” Ben agreed. “They’ll stay away _if_ everyone else does. They might even help if it comes to a fight. But the ones looking for excuses won’t come alone. They’ll bring their best fighters from home. It’ll be war.”

Rey stood. “What?”

He looked up. Took her hand. “You didn’t think I wouldn’t have thrown them out if I could have? If it was just a matter of snapping my fingers and making them disappear that I wouldn’t do that for you?” He squeezed her hand. “I know you hate all of this. I _know_ it. But if I refuse to play by the rules, it could start something that could destroy this entire pack.”

She stared at him. Asked faintly, “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

Ben seemed confused. “I thought San Tekka explained courting to you.”

“Not that it could start a _war_! That’s not a minor detail, Ben!”

He released her and dragged both hands down his face, falling back onto the bed with a groan. He stared up at the ceiling and settled his hands on his stomach. “This sucks.”

“Tell me about it,” she muttered, laying down beside him and staring at the ceiling, too. They lay there in silence for a while, Rey going over and over what San Tekka had told her, trying to remember if there had been any lines to read between, any alternate interpretations. “If you stopped courting me, you could send them away.”

He turned his head to look at her, a frown on his mouth and hurt in his eyes. “You would want that?”

She waved a hand. “It’s better than war!”

He turned to look at the ceiling again, expression pensive. “Even if it would have worked before, and I’m not sure it would have, it won’t now.” A faint smile twisted his mouth. “The word is out: you fought off ten rutting alphas in the deepest depths of your heat.”

She rolled onto her side to face him. “What?”

He shrugged, not looking at her. “Something like that. It’s gotten blown pretty far out of proportion.” He turned his face toward her, then, and his smile didn’t quite touch his eyes. “Everyone and their grandmother has decided that you, Rey Niima of the California Pack, are a catch.”

She was quiet, letting that sink in. Finally, she muttered, “It was _pre_ heat.”

Ben laughed, big and unrestrained, and the sound made the tension running through her burble up into laughter of her own. She buried her face in his shoulder and rode the giggles out, overwhelmed with the ridiculousness of her situation.

She was still giggling when she said, “I’m not even that special.”

His response was immediate, his gaze direct. “Lies.”

All urge to laugh fell away, and Rey caught her breath at the steady certainty he'd fixed on her. There was no doubt in those eyes, his faith in her there on the surface, fierce and frightening.

"Ben," she whispered, then edged forward and rubbed her lips across his.

He moved closer as well, cupping the back of her head and deepening the kiss. Slick tongues met and tangled.

Ben's phone vibrated on the bed, startling Rey back from the kiss, and Ben groaned and reluctantly reached for it.

Rey, annoyed at the interruption and angry at everyone who was making Ben's life harder and hers hell, snatched it first, hit the green button, and snarled, " _Fuck off._ "

A moment's startled pause, and a woman's amused voice on the other end said, "You must be Rey."

Confused by the caller and the way Ben suddenly covered his face and shook with silent laughter, Rey ventured a hesitant, "Yes?"

She pulled the phone away from her ear long enough to check the caller ID, which she really should have done before, because Ben started laughing in earnest when he saw her face.

"It's nice to finally meet you," said Ben's mother.

* * *

Ben kept grinning at her all afternoon after she'd told his mother to fuck off. Rey wanted to punch him every time he did it.

And she did, when he was within arm's reach, though it only made him laugh harder.

"It's not funny!" she protested.

"It was hilarious," Ben countered.

"She _hates_ me!"

"She thinks you're great."

"I told her to fuck off!"

Ben bent and kissed her hair. "She thinks you're spunky."

He'd taken the call after Rey had handed it over in mortification and fled the room. She'd heard him discussing her new suitors, and it was worse than she'd expected. Already, fifteen new alphas had asked permission to court her, and almost all of the suitors who'd decided she wasn't worth it were clamoring to come back.

He'd sounded stressed and unsure, and then he'd listened for a long time, so long that Rey would think he'd hung up if he hadn't been making listening noises.

His parting words had made her heart clench: "I can't let a war break out here, Mom. Not if there's any way to stop it. But I can't just let them walk all over me, over _her_. Over this pack. No one here deserves that."

He'd listened for a moment more and had let out a long sigh. "I understand. I'll do what I can for now. Love you."

She'd had a moment of jealousy. He had a mother who loved him. Who gave him advice. Who called him out of the blue to check on him and listened to his problems.

Rey wanted that so bad, she felt it in her _teeth_.

* * *

"You know what you need?" Rey said that evening after Ben had gotten off another call telling suitors to back the hell off and give her a few more days.

"A secretary?" he grumbled, slumping onto the couch beside her.

"A run."

She reached out for his phone, which he handed over with a mild frown.

"I can turn these bozos away for a few hours. Go stretch your legs."

Ben's eyes moved over her face. "Come with me."

She grimaced. "I'm still…" She didn't finish the sentence. He could smell it. He had to know that the bleeding wouldn't stop even if she shifted.

But he only shrugged. "You know that doesn't bother me, right?"

She flushed and fiddled with his phone. "It's just…"

"You're embarrassed?" He rested a hand on her knee.

Rey kept her eyes on his phone. "Yeah."

"It can't be more embarrassing than running with a boner." He nudged her shoulder with his, self-deprecating.

The phone vibrated again and he rolled his eyes, grabbed it, and tossed it toward his room. "Come on," he said, standing and pulling her to her feet. "You don't have to shift, but you're running with me."

"Is that an order?" she asked, letting him pull her toward their shoes by the door. Her tone was light, but the question wasn’t.

He looked taken aback at that, his grip on her hand loosening. "Of course not." He dropped her hand and turned to face her fully, frowning. "I'm not going to _order_ you to spend time with me."

"You have," she pointed out.

His brows furrowed in confusion, then cleared. "The rides?" At her nod, he ran a hand over his hair and blew out a breath. "Rey, most courted omegas are escorted by their family, scented by an alpha family member. Yeah, I liked spending that time with you, but in the absence of family, the pack leader fills that role."

Rey narrowed her eyes at him, sensing bullshit. "You're _also_ one of my suitors."

He ducked his head, pink touching his cheeks. It was the epitome of shifty. "Yeah."

She crossed her arms. "Were you supposed to do that, then?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes skirting away. "Probably not." Then he glanced her way. "To be fair, though, there's very little precedent for this. Usually, when a pack leader courts an omega, there’s rarely more than one or two other suitors, and they're usually in the same pack. The rules about not restricting access to the omega were always more to protect pack members from being discriminated against than… whatever fucking circus this has turned into. And the omega's family is supposed to have final say on who gets access, and the pack leader is supposed to enforce that, but…"

"I don't have family," she said quietly.

He looked at her for a long moment before quietly saying, "We've been charting new territory here."

She met his eye, reading his plea for forgiveness there. She wasn’t angry, at least not for her own sake, but she was worried. "Do you think you've been charting it well? That other omegas are going to benefit from your way of doing this?"

He blinked and took a step back, his face becoming pensive and then pained. "Probably not."

"You arranged things to benefit _you_. And, no, you didn't take advantage of me, but do you really think another pack leader wouldn't? That your example will keep omegas _safer_?"

He took another step back and swallowed. Bowed his head. His voice was rough and low. "I'm sorry."

She stepped forward and slipped a hand into his, making him look up. "Don't apologize. _Fix it_."

He searched her eyes. She watched the progression of his thoughts as they reflected in his face, ending in determination. He nodded. "Okay."

She nodded back. "But first, a run. This week has _sucked_."

His lips quirked up on one side, eyes tentatively hopeful. "You'll come?"

"Yeah." She slipped her shoes on, then tapped him on the nose on the way out. "But no sniffing my tail."

* * *

They agreed to run to a creek-fed pond a mile or so into the forest, both of them in their fur. It was a popular place to stop for a drink on full moon runs or hot days, but she didn’t think anyone else would be out on a work night.

Rey was still using her vacation days, but she would need to dip into her PTO if she stayed away from work much longer. She knew it made things at the center a little tight with Poe out, too, but her shifts were easily covered because she’d planned for her heat so far in advance, and she’d expected to use her PTO for her period anyway. She’d gone to work on her period before, and she’d been so miserable that Poe had sent her straight home with instructions to not come back until she felt better.

When they reached the pond, Ben sped up and leaped, sailing in a graceful arch over the water before landing belly-first with a huge splash.

Rey parted her jaws in a silent laugh and trotted in after him, settling into the shallower part of the pond as Ben’s human head surfaced. He tossed his hair out of his face and swam over, big pale limbs bright against the dark water. He offered her a grin when he reached her, lounging beside her in the shallows.

“God, I needed that,” he sighed.

Rey licked his human nose, and he barked a laugh. He buried his hands in her ruff, pressed his face against her muzzle, and scratched behind her ears. She licked his face a few more times, then shifted to human. He was still grinning as he tugged her into his arms and settled her on top of him.

He held her lightly, letting her sling a leg over to straddle his stomach, allowing her to settle where she wanted. His smile faded into something that made warmth pool low in her belly just before pain shot through her and she winced.

His hands settled onto her hips, rubbing soothing circles on her skin under the water. “Cramps?”

She nodded, tense until the cramp passed. “They’re not as bad when I’m in my fur.”

“Why don’t you just spend your period in your fur?”

She halfway lay on him, soaking up his heat in the cold water. “They don’t make pads for wolves, Ben.”

He grunted. “They make pee pads.”

She dropped her forehead against his chest. “Christ, Ben.”

His chest shifted with laughter. “I’m kidding. Kind of. I mean, it would work, right?”

She slapped his shoulder, but she was laughing, too. “I’m not using _puppy pads_ for my period, you dick.”

His hands slid up her sides, chafing her skin for warmth, and she pressed further against him. The sun hadn’t quite set yet, and the water threw the remaining light around in little glints.

His eyes were on her face, his mouth relaxed, his breathing deep. He watched her, and she watched him back.

“I—” But whatever he was about to say stalled on his tongue, and he shook his head, visibly biting the words back. Instead, he cupped her face and kissed her, soft and slow, taking his time with her.

Rey melted into it, feeling her pulse pick up and the space between his stomach and her cunt grow slick. She glanced down and flushed, seeing blood on his skin under the water. She tried to apologize, but he shook his head.

“I don’t care,” he breathed, eyes dilated and lips reddened as he pulled her face back to his and kept kissing her like it was the only thing in the world.

They kissed until Rey started to squirm and something brushed against her ass.

She gasped into Ben’s mouth, and even if she hadn’t had known what it was, his shaky exhale would have given it away.

“Ignore it,” he said, swallowing and pressing his lips against her jaw. “I’m good with this.”

Rey drew back just enough to look into his dark eyes, holding him there, and watched his chest heave, his kiss-swollen lips, the disheveled way his hair had started to dry.

He looked wrecked.

She felt like she was looking on from outside of herself, at the way she straddled this big slab of alpha, leaking slick and blood all over his stomach and wanting _more_.

She leaned in and bit gently at his earlobe, enjoying the catch in his breath before she whispered, “Maybe I’m not.”

“Not?” he asked, sounding dazed.

“Good with just this.”

He turned his head to look at her, a question in his eyes, and because she suspected he wasn’t going to pounce unless she spelled it out for him, she reached back and slid her palm down his abdomen until she found what she needed.

The groan he let out as she wrapped her hand around him was almost as good as the foggy desperation in his eye as she tilted her hips back and positioned him at her entrance.

She wiggled a little, teasing them both. “You’re not going to make me do _all_ the work, are you?”

“Trying to figure out if I’m dreaming.” He didn’t sound all the way with her, so she waited until his gaze seemed to clear a little and he met her eyes again. “You’re sure?”

It had to have cost him to ask her, so she just bit her lip on a smile and sank back until the tip popped in.

Ben made a wounded noise and threw his head back, except he was leaning too far back in the water for that to be a good idea. He came up spluttering and coughing, slipping out of her as she was forced to release his cock to keep from being thrown off.

“You almost drowned me,” he accused as he wiped water out of his eyes. His mouth had a wry twist to it, like he wanted to laugh.

“Sex assassin?” she suggested.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him, gaze predatory now instead of lust-addled. “You want this, Rey?”

She leaned in and slowly licked over his jaw, lowering her mouth to his neck to suck one of his glands roughly between her teeth. He grunted, and she pulled back so he could see her eyes when she said, “Fuck me. Please.”

He showed his teeth on a growl. “Anything you don’t like, you tell me.”

She nodded, and that was it. He was lifting her and flipping her around, arranging her on her hands and knees only just barely on shore, pressing down between her shoulders so she fell to her elbows in the rocks and mud. He grabbed a fistful of hair, wrapping it around his hand, and she only had time to moan once before he was at her entrance, piling in the inches so that her moan became a high keening.

“Okay?” he asked once he’d bottomed out inside of her.

“Yesss,” she hissed. It hurt because she was a virgin and he’d pushed in faster than was probably wise, but she healed quickly, and she wanted it, wanted _him_. She wasn’t surprised to find that she liked the position and the primal feel of being taken out in the open. She was an omega, and Larma had warned her that her instincts would probably swing that way, make her _want_ to be dominated sexually, that it was normal and didn't make her weak or mean that she wanted to be dominated in her day-to-day life. What Larma hadn’t known about, but what Rey had suspected for a while now, was that she might also like a little pain in her sex. The ache in her cunt somehow made her _wetter_ , slicking Ben up and making his slide out and back in a smooth glide.

“ _Omega_ ,” he growled, snapping his hips in a way that pushed a sharp cry out of her. “Good or bad?” he asked, pausing and sounding a little more coherent.

She reached back, claws out, and dug them into his thigh, urging him on. She felt wild with it, needing him faster and harder and rougher. “More,” she grunted. “Hurt me.”

She didn’t know if his snarl had more to do with the claws in his flesh or her words, but he grabbed her hips with one arm, her shoulder with the other, and began fucking her the way she _needed_. She had to use both arms to keep her face out of the mud, claws out as she tried to anchor herself in place, her knees trying to slide away from him.

Blunt human teeth clamped around her shoulder, too far from her glands to be a threat, and she screamed as he bit hard enough to draw blood, his knot ballooning inside of her and triggering an avalanche of pleasure that went on and on, fading from one high into another until she gave up trying to track any of it and just let it wash over her.

When she came back to herself, Ben was licking at her glands and the bite on her shoulder, which had stopped bleeding but still held a rather spectacular and livid impression of his teeth. He avoided her mating gland, and she thought that was probably for the best.

“Sorry,” he murmured, nuzzling into her hair. His knot pulsed, and she felt cum filling her, either still or again, she didn’t know. Ben shuddered over her.

It triggered another orgasm in Rey, and she clenched around him, gasping out a soft, “ _Ben_.”

They rode out the high, and Ben cushioned her landing, cuddling her close in the shallows and gently cleaning the mud from them both. Her forearms were scraped up from little rocks and twigs on the ground, and he poured handfuls of water over them until she could see how her skin was marred by small healing cuts and fading abrasions. It was impossible for werewolves to get an infection, but she liked the way he gently cleaned her. It felt… tender.

He went back to licking her glands, and she detected a note of anxiety in his scent, worry in his movements.

She reached back to stroke his cheek. “You okay?”

He turned his face into her palm and kissed it. “That’s my line.”

“I’m fine.”

“I wasn’t too rough?”

She turned her head until she could see his expression. “I asked you to be.”

His lips thinned. “You asked me to _hurt you_.”

The omega in her started to panic. _Alpha is displeased_. She struggled to keep her voice steady. “Was that bad?”

Some of her stress must have come through, because he kissed her shoulder and held her closer. “No, sweetheart. No.”

Her omega wasn’t appeased. “You’re upset.”

“Worried,” he corrected, kissing over the bite mark. “That was… intense. More than I meant for it to be.”

“I liked it,” she said, still anxious that she’d done something wrong.

He dragged his lips across her jaw, her cheek. “So did I.” His knot pulsed, and he panted and licked her neck as he released another load of cum. “I liked it a lot.”

“But?”

He hooked his chin over her shoulder and hugged her. “Let’s just talk about it first next time. I don’t… I don’t want to hurt you.”

Rey felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. “You don’t?”

“Not in ways you don’t like,” he clarified. “Which is why we should talk.”

That answer calmed her, as did his continued attention to her glands. “Okay.”

* * *

Rey was hungry when they got back to the car, night having fallen, so Ben took her for burgers. She watched him order one to go and tilted her head in curiosity.

“I want to check on Poe before we head home,” he said. “He’s probably eaten, but he’s a werewolf.”

She smirked because, yeah. Werewolves ate a lot. Very high metabolisms. She noted the word _home_ but didn’t say anything, just followed Ben to his car after he paid. They drove to the place Poe was being held, a small house out close to the forest with no near neighbors, and Ben parked before turning to her.

“Wait here,” he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt. “And that _is_ an order.” The words were gentle but firm.

She raised her hands in surrender. “Wasn’t gonna argue.” He was out of the car, about to shut his door, when she leaned over and added, “Just… tell him I say hi? And that I hope he gets better soon?”

Ben ducked down to smile in at her. “I will.”

“Thanks.”

She played on her phone while she waited, hating that she couldn’t go in and straining her ears for any snippets from inside, but the place had to be soundproofed because she couldn’t catch anything. Not until the door opened and Ben made his way back to the car.

“He says hi,” Ben said as he slid behind the wheel.

Rey smiled, then inhaled and froze. “Is that blood?”

Ben reached up and touched a smear on his cheek. “Oh. Yeah. Poe and Larma have been working on shifting. He figured out how to use his claws.”

Rey wasn’t sure how she felt about that, whether she was upset with Ben or with Poe. “What happened? What did you do?”

Ben dropped his hand and cupped the back of her neck. Rey refused to let it soothe her. (Tried. _Tried_ not to let it soothe her.) “He’s still working on control. It’s fine. Normal.”

“He _attacked you_?”

“It’s normal, Rey. It’s fine. I’ve done this before, and he’s actually doing really well.” It was the calm certainty of his voice that eased her worry more than anything. He dropped his hand from her neck and started the car. “He still feels pretty bad about grabbing you, by the way. It wasn’t his fault, but he’s been pressing me to pass on his apologies.”

She waved it away. “Tell him not to worry about it.”

“I have,” he assured her. He sent a glance her way. “I knew you wouldn’t blame him.”

“You know me pretty well.”

His expression turned smug, and she rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop her smile.

* * *

“Ben Solo’s phone, how may I help you?”

“Um… is Solo there?”

“I’m sorry, he’s not available right now, can I take a message?”

“Uh. I wanted to request permission to enter his territory.”

“When?”

“Saturday?”

“I’m sorry, Saturday won’t work. Unless it’s an emergency, is it an emergency?”

The wolf on the other end sounded baffled. “I mean… I guess not. Are you sure Solo isn’t there?”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t here, I said he wasn’t available,” Rey cheerily replied. Beside her, Ben was shaking with laughter, trying his damndest to stay completely silent. She was tempted to tickle him to make it harder. “Is there anything else that you need?”

The wolf sounded annoyed now. “I’d really like to talk to Solo.”

“If you’ll give me your name and request, I’ll pass it on.”

“Ah… I’m Elrik Vonreg. And I, uh, wanted to court one of his omegas.”

“Which omega is that?”

“Rey Niima.”

Rey glanced at Ben, who suddenly had a lot less trouble controlling his amusement, predator-focused on the conversation. “I’m afraid Rey Niima doesn’t want to be courted, but if you insist on pressing your luck…” Ben smirked at that, and Rey winked at him. “Next weekend is the earliest she’ll be available.”

A pause. “Look, I want to talk to Solo.”

“Nope!”

“Who the fuck is this?”

In her cheeriest voice, she replied, “I’m Rey! Have a nice day, Elrik Vonreg!”

And hung up.

Ben fell back onto the bed and laughed. Rey grinned at him, delighted with herself. The phone began to vibrate right away, Elrik Vonreg calling back, but she sent him to voicemail.

When it buzzed for the third time, Ben picked it up, Rey resting on his chest like a contented cat. “Hello?”

“Is this Solo?” asked Elrik Vonreg, sounding angry.

“I am,” Ben replied, sliding one hand up under the back of Rey’s shirt.

“What the fuck was that? You have her answering your phone?”

“That was her idea, actually. She’s kind of annoyed by all the attention.” He was smiling, and it came through in his voice.

“What the hell, Solo? You’re ambushing people now? Was that even Rey Niima, or is it some random woman you got to pretend to be her?”

Rey took the phone from Ben, who smirked up at her and traced his other hand over her jeans-clad ass. “Elrik. Can I call you Elrik? Great. I _am_ Rey, and I’m on my period, and I’m cramping like a motherfucker. That’s why this weekend doesn’t work for me. Wait until next, and I might not hate your guts on principle.”

“Um, uh,” Elrik stuttered. “I, um…”

“Here’s Ben back,” she said, and handed the phone to the man under her, forcing him to release his kneading of her ass to take it.

“You have permission to enter my territory next Saturday _or_ Sunday, for one day only. There are about twenty alphas who want to meet Rey, and it’ll be easier on her if the suitors are staggered a bit.”

“I heard from Poldin LeHuse that he got to stay for an entire weekend.”

“Circumstances have changed,” Ben replied firmly. “If you try to stay longer, I will throw you out in pieces.”

A soft growl and then a reluctant, “Fine.” A moment more, and he got out the ritual words, “I thank you for allowing me safe passage into your territory.”

Ben’s reply was similarly rote. “As you abide by the laws of hospitality, so shall I.”

“Expect me one week from Saturday.”

They hung up, and Ben tossed the phone aside. “Where were we?”

They’d been interrupted at least five times that afternoon. That morning, while Ben had gone to see Poe (he’d left his phone on purpose to get away from the calls and had told her to just let it go to voicemail), Rey had decided to play answering service.

It had gone surprisingly well. She’d taken down the alpha’s information and kept repeating that that weekend wouldn’t work. Somehow, the alphas seemed to believe a random female voice more than they trusted Ben not to screw them over for his own nefarious purposes, and the few who got Rey to give her name (she did _if_ they asked, but they didn’t all ask) had quickly backed off as if afraid to offend her.

She could tell they didn't all believe she was who she claimed but that they weren't willing to risk it.

“I think we were right about… here.” She leaned over him and licked his bottom lip.

Ben pulled her into his arms, voice a bit breathy. “Yeah. I think that _is_ where we were.”

* * *

“So,” said Ben after he took an armchair in the pack cabin's large living room, his hands on the arms, one leg crossed over the other at the knee. Seated around the room were representatives from the most influential families in the pack: Brance and Larma, Norra Wexley, the Sellas, and an older man named Jotis who’d driven two hours to get to this meeting because he lived in a different part of California with his kids and grandkids.

San Tekka rounded out Ben's brain trust. He'd spoken to them all one-on-one in the past, and they'd provided reasonably intelligent advice. At worst, they knew how the pack functioned in ways he didn't yet, and they gave him a good idea of how the pack would react to his ideas.

“It’s been suggested to me,” he said with a glance Rey’s way that none of them could misinterpret, “that we have an opportunity to set a precedent in courting, and that my precedent-setting skills are shit.”

Norra Wexley snorted with surprised laughter, and San Tekka’s brows rose to his hairline. Ben couldn’t decide if the older wolf was horrified or just startled. Most pack leaders didn't admit to being bad at anything, but Ben had watched his mother for years, and she was always honest about her shortcomings with those she trusted.

Ben cast Norra Wexley a bare nod, acknowledging that yes, Rey was a force to be reckoned with, and continued. “I called this meeting to rectify our approach to Rey's mess of suitors." He gestured to himself. "Yes, including me." He held up a hand, ticking off points on his fingers. "There are several factors at play, here. First, the pack leader traditionally steps in when an omega has no family. Second, when a pack leader courts an omega in his own pack, he can’t restrict access to her because that is an abuse of power. Third, no one is going to trust that I’m not pulling the strings of anyone who tries to step up and take on that role. No one here has the authority to turn away suitors. Not the way blood relatives could.”

He sighed and sat back, rolling his jaw and feeling tired. “I could handle the first influx. It was inconvenient but manageable. But. I’ve been getting more and more requests to meet Rey as her story has spread. Not just alphas but betas and omegas, too. She’s famous.” He ran a hand across his mouth. “And vulnerable.”

He shook his head and met everyone’s eyes in turn. “If this were someone else in similar circumstances, she would be at a massive disadvantage. Rey is strong, and I have no intention of taking advantage of her situation, but that doesn’t mean that another pack leader wouldn’t. And not all omegas are able to fight off more than one wolf at a time.”

Murmurs of agreement, and he allowed himself the barest hint of a smile.

 _Our mate is fierce_ , his wolf whispered smugly.

“I have a few ideas, but I’d like to brainstorm together. I feel like the solution is going to need all of us.” He folded his hands on his stomach and leaned back. “So what have you got for me?”

Everyone looked at each other, considering.

San Tekka raised a tentative hand. “Traditionally, if a vulnerable omega needs protection from her pack leader, an outside power is called in to mediate.”

“We’ll mark that as a last resort,” Ben replied, a little sharper than he probably should have. He knew who they’d call, and he knew the damage it would do to all the work he’d done here. He’d have to start practically from scratch if his mom swooped in to save the day. Probably even be worse off than starting from scratch. He’d be considered _weak_. Other packs preyed on the weak. “I’d rather handle this ourselves if at all possible.”

“Agreed,” said Larma, and several others nodded.

“What about that human who got attacked?” asked Jotis, frowning from an armchair a little behind the others. “What are we going to do about him?”

“I’m handling it,” Ben assured him. “I’ve had an unfortunately thorough education in how to help new wolves adapt.” Changed wolves were rare. In fact, it was the first rule every pup learned: don’t bite humans. Except for the epidemic in the 1700s, when unwise wolves had almost brought hunters down on them all, changed werewolves in the U.S. were kept to a strict minimum. In fact, his mother’s friend Harter had been a human doctor and in on the secret before she’d requested the change.

She’d had cancer. Inoperable.

Even then, there had been wolves who’d argued against it. In the end, though, his mother’s word had been law, and Harter had been changed.

She’d presented as omega, which people had grumbled that they didn’t need more of, but then Harter had started researching omega biology and birth control methods, and the naysayers slowly changed their tune as she remained single and didn’t have a litter of pups tugging at her skirts.

“I have a daughter,” she’d said when Ben had (as an asshole kid) asked her why she’d never taken a mate. “A human daughter. She has her own children, and they’ll have their own children some day.” She’d smiled softly at him and had run her hand over his hair, her omega scent soothing him even as he’d been confused by her answer. “That’s enough for me.”

“Rey needs bodyguards,” said Norra Wexley. Rey made a noise of indignation, and Ben held up a hand to stop her from interrupting. “That boy from Texas had them, and Rey’s already been attacked once. With all this attention, it would be idiotic to assume nothing like that could happen again.”

Ben nodded at Rey. “You wanted to add something?”

“I don’t need bodyguards. If anything, I’ve _proven_ I can defend myself.”

Ben opened his mouth to tell her that nobody doubted her strength, but Norra was already waving her hands.

“No no no, I didn’t mean that you’re _weak_. You know how to fight. But your… your…” She flailed for words.

“Position is weak,” Larma suggested.

Norra snapped her fingers and pointed at Larma. "Yes. That."

Ben nodded and inclined his head toward Rey. “Your situation is what makes you vulnerable, though there’s no one I’d rather have at my back in a fight.” She smiled a little at that, eyeing him like she didn’t quite trust he wasn’t feeding her a line. “But other omegas in the same position would be at even more of a disadvantage.” He looked at the others. “That’s what we’re brainstorming. How to make sure omegas like Rey don’t get screwed by the way we’ve always done things.” He looked at the woman sitting between Norra Wexley and Sondiv Sella, a brown-skinned omega who’d had five children and was currently seeing her own omega daughter through the courting process. “Mrs. Sella, what do you think?”

The woman seemed startled at being addressed and glanced nervously around before she spoke. “I’ve been thinking about Korrie, and what if she was in Rey’s position.” She sent a small, apologetic smile Rey’s way, then looked at her hands. “It’s terrifying. Who can make sure she’s safe, who can speak for her?”

Rey started to say something, but a sharp flick of Ben’s wrist stopped her. Mrs. Sella was a bit timid around alphas, and there were several in the room. He didn’t know if an interruption would make her clam up or not, but she deserved a chance to speak.

“Sondiv and I would of course be willing to take on any responsibilities Rey needs.” She glanced up at her mate, then back at her hands, which were twisting together in her lap. “But, like you said, nobody’s going to respect our authority if we’re not blood relatives.”

Ben waited until she glanced up and then back down, signalling that she was done, and smiled. “Thank you, Mrs. Sella. I value your input.” He looked at Rey, glad she’d paid attention to his signal. He hoped it meant she was learning to tell when he was acting as pack leader versus when he wasn’t. His smile for her might have been a little more warm than he meant for it to be in front of all these other wolves. “Rey?”

She seemed calmer than when she’d tried to interrupt Mrs. Sella. “I guess I just don’t see why I can’t speak for myself.” She shrugged, and Ben thought about that.

No one spoke for a long moment, and Norra Wexley raised a brow at him.

“Okay,” Ben said quietly, addressing the room. “Is there any way to give omegas more autonomy?”

“Um,” Mrs. Sella said softly, and Ben did a mental fist-pump that she felt comfortable enough to remain part of the conversation. The first time he'd spoken to her, she'd been so nervous that she'd nearly dropped a potato salad on his foot. “For most of us, our families give us that autonomy. We tell our parents what we want, and they act accordingly.” She shared a look with her husband and bit her lip. Mumbled, “I guess that doesn’t help.”

He caught the scent of her distress, and her mate placed a calming hand on the back of her neck. She gave Sondiv a small smile.

“The trouble isn’t that you don’t have a voice,” Norra Wexley pointed out, “but whether your suitors will listen to you. Omegas just don’t have that kind of sway.”

Brance nodded. “That’s why the system is set up the way it is. With go-betweens. Especially since omegas have several physical weaknesses.”

Rey bristled, and this time Ben didn’t stop her as she snapped, “What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

Larma leaned forward, her _let’s take a step back before someone gets eviscerated_ face on. “It’s not untrue,” she said gently. “The mating gland, heat, instinctive responses, all of that is a disadvantage. Omegas aren’t automatically submissive interpersonally, but you have to admit that your designation can be a handicap at times.”

Rey flushed with indignation, her scent agitated, but Ben reached out an arm and touched her hand, just the barest brushing of fingertips. She looked at him.

“I think I understand what Larma is saying,” he offered. “Omegas can be mated against their will. Alphas and betas can’t. You can be attacked during heat while rut has to be triggered. Your instincts are… _supposed_ to be submissive.” Norra Wexley wasn’t the only one to chuckle at that. No one who'd spent time around Rey thought she was submissive. “It’s a cocktail that _you_ might be able to work around and resist, but not every omega can.” He looked around the room before looking back to Rey. “We’re supposed to surround you. Protect you. Create a buffer. That’s why so many of the pack comes out when your suitors are in town. Pack _is_ family. And in lieu of blood kin, we have to step up.”

Brance was nodding, serious and reserved.

“I think you just answered your own question about who protects an omega in Rey’s position,” San Tekka said.

Norra Wexley’s eyes widened. “The whole pack.”

Ben thought about it. “Who speaks for an orphaned omega when the pack leader is courting her?”

Larma smiled. “The whole pack.”

“Do you think it would work?” Ben asked. “That they wouldn’t just assume that I was controlling the whole thing?”

“Then _I’ll_ speak for me,” Rey insisted. “The pack can back me up, but who’s going to say the pack is your mouthpiece if the words are coming out of _my_ mouth?”

He wasn’t sure. He liked it, but he still wasn’t sure. “Thoughts?”

“It _could_ work,” Brance said cautiously. Ben suspected that his leadership style had been similarly careful and measured when he'd been pack leader. Avoiding risk was one way to stay in power — _if_ you had the reputation to back it up.

A reputation Ben was still working on, one that would be shattered if he had to call Mom to come in and clean up his mess. With that on his mind, he said, “Better than getting my mother involved.”

Rey cocked her head to one side. “San Tekka said we could call Leia Organa if… um…” She was looking around the room now, at the surprise on everyone’s faces (everyone's but Brance's and Larma's, and wasn't _that_ interesting). “What… what is it?”

“His mother,” said Jotis, gesturing vaguely at Ben, who tried to telegraph _shut up_ through his glare. But Jotis didn’t look at Ben and didn’t see how hard Ben was trying to drill a hole in his skull with his eyes. “She’s Leia Organa.”

Rey stared at Jotis. Stared and stared until her eyes widened and she drew in a deep, horrified breath and covered her mouth to squeak, “I told _Leia Organa_ to fuck off!” She bent over at the waist, face in her hands. “ _Oh my God_ , I told _Leia Organa_ to _fuck off_!” She dropped her hands and stared into her palms, cheeks bright red. “I yelled at Leia Organa.” Then her brows drew together and her head snapped up. “She’s your _mother_?!”

Ben felt himself flush with embarrassment but kept the veneer of leadership around himself as he cleared his throat and stood. “Ten minute break while I get yelled at, then we’ll figure out the details to make this plan work.” He waved them off and gestured for Rey to follow him upstairs.

They’d hear any yelling she did, but the illusion of privacy was better than nothing.

She at least waited until he'd shut the bedroom door behind them to shout, “What the _fuck_ , Ben?!”

He didn’t tell her to keep her voice down, though the volume made him wince. She didn’t seem angry so much as shocked. He wondered if the latter would wear off and leave the former. “I didn’t want to be defined by my family,” he offered quietly, having worried for a long time about what would happen when she found out. He'd wondered if she even _knew_ about his family, if she cared who they were, if it made a difference for her. “Everyone has an opinion about them, and me by association. I didn’t… I didn’t want that with you.”

“You thought I would judge you because of your family?”

He blew out a breath. “Yes. No? I don’t know. It changes things for people when they find out. I didn’t think it would matter to you, but… I’ve had a _lot_ of omegas try to use me to get close to my family.”

Rey growled, her hands clawing, and Ben flinched, thinking she was angry with _him_ , but then she seemed to catch herself and stared at her claws for a moment before putting them away with a startled, unsettled expression. She took a deep breath and looked up, blinking to clear away whatever that had been. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Yes,” he said immediately. “Of course. Once you knew me well enough to decide…”

When he didn’t speak for a few seconds, she prompted him. “Decide?”

“If I’m worth it or not.”

She wrapped her arms around herself, looking small. “It’s not about whether you’re worth it, Ben.”

“Then what _is_ it about?”

She shrugged, and her eyes looked wet. “I don’t know.” She sniffled, and he wanted to kick his own ass for making her cry. “Whether I’m ready, I guess? Whether this is even something I _want_? Whether I have a choice?”

“You have a choice,” he said quickly. He didn't know if he'd been gravitating toward her or her toward him, but they were just then close enough for him to cup her cheek with his palm. “Whether you choose… someone… or nothing. You have a choice. We’ll make sure of it.”

Rey covered his hand with hers, and her tears fell as she looked up at him. “I do like you,” she confessed. “I do. I’m just…”

“Not interested in anything serious?” He kept his voice even, light. Refused to think about how unstable that left his future. Refused to let the fear set in. Refused to listen to the way his wolf howled.

Her eyes were limpid and so very sad. “If I was going to be serious, it would be with you.”

His heart thumped, and he opened his mouth, the words _I love you_ on the tip of his tongue.

He held them back.

He’d held them back at the pond, when they’d been the only thing pounding through his head, and he held them back now while his heartbeat drummed them to his fingertips, his toes, to his brain and balls. They filled every molecule of his body, but he kept them in.

Somehow.

To distract himself, he took her hands in both of his and straightened his shoulders, bending his head to look down at her. “Rey Niima,” he said softly, formally. “My name is Ben Solo. I am the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, the nephew of Luke Skywalker. I have inherited friends and enemies, powerful legacies and ancient bloodlines.

“I have many aunts and uncles, only one of whom is _actually_ blood related, and when I was really little I took a shit in the corner during a pack meeting.”

She huffed a laugh at that, clearly not expecting it, and he smiled. He’d told her this story, but he’d held back a few details.

“My mother was running that meeting, because she ran that pack, and she was _mortified_. All of my aunts and uncles were there. Every Christmas, they tease us about it.”

“I can’t believe I told her to fuck off,” Rey murmured, but her dimples were showing. She was trying not to smile.

He squeezed her hands. “She thought it was hilarious.” His mom had laughed, said she liked that girl, and then asked how he was. “She’s dying to meet you. So is my dad. When it won’t completely fuck up everything I’m working for here, I’ll introduce you to them.” He swallowed. “They’re going to love you.”

Her brightness dimmed, and she bit her lower lip. He could see her brain attaching strings. “Ben…”

“You don’t have to promise yourself to me to meet my parents, Rey.” He rubbed his thumbs across her fingers, watched how the tension in her shoulders uncurled. “They’re curious about you. They’ll want to meet you no matter what.”

She pressed her lips together and ducked her head, looking at him nervously through her lashes. In a soft voice, she admitted, “Your mother is kind of my idol.”

“Then I’ll make sure you meet her. Just…” He grimaced and released her hands, turning to the door. “Judge me on my own merit? Not on theirs.”

“Deal,” she agreed.

He wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t know where they stood just then, so he opened the door and let her exit first. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Trigger warning:** Undernegotiated rough sex and a pain kink. Everything is consensual.
> 
>  **If you want to skip that scene** , it's when they get to the pond. Just go to the next scene. Next scene starts with _Rey was hungry when they got back to the car_
> 
> .  
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> Chapter Spoilers  
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> Uhhh.... *hides*
> 
> A lot of this chapter was unexpected developments for me. It's still going the way I intended, the next chapters will play out more or less how I planned, but Rey on the phone and the precedent talk and the pain kink and all of that? That's new. *baffled* No clue, it just happened.
> 
> If I'd been _planning_ on a pain kink, I would have foreshadowed it a bit. Werewolves and rough sex seemed to fit, and A/B/O sex is traditionally a bit aggressive. I hope that bit paid off and didn't horrify anyone. :/ The "hurt me" line felt really risky but also honest, so I waffled but eventually left it in.
> 
> (Also, though period sex is a thing and werewolves would probably not be fussy about it, it's not something I particularly like to write. I had them do the deed in water so I could avoid graphic period descriptions. No judgment on anyone who enjoys it, it's just an uncomfortable idea for me, mess-wise.)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been trying to get back into a healthy real world routine before I get back into my writing routines, but honestly it was the last handful of paragraphs here that took me so long. I wanted to end this chapter strong, but sometimes it's just a matter of ending it at all.
> 
> Next chapters are vaguely outlined in my head but are yet to be written.
> 
> [ **Edit:** I completely forgot to mention [this gorgeous moodboard](https://kylorenaissance.tumblr.com/post/190525699362/moodboard-for-coveted-by-optimisticsprinkles) by hipgrab, but I remembered just now b/c two-moons made me [_this_ exquisite thing](https://divine-thrills.tumblr.com/post/190846443758/fic-aesthetic-coveted-by-optimisticbeth-x-a). I am spoiled now, you guys.]

Rey went back to work to find that she was expected to fill her role _and_ Poe’s without any help. Normally, that would be a hardship, but without human supervision it meant that she could bring a couple of werewolves to work and no one could say no.

Nix and his little sister Spennie were Rey’s guards for the first watch. Nix’s temper meant that he was out of work — again — but he had a van and had volunteered to run transport for gas money.

Spennie was old enough to be out of school but young enough not to have steady work yet. She’d volunteered as a bodyguard, claiming that it sounded way more interesting than frying shitty chicken in a stupid hair net.

Nix stayed in human form and loitered around the center while Rey worked. He carried a leash for the breakaway collar around his sister’s neck, which he enjoyed waving at her, and which got him bitten at _least_ once.

Spennie mostly remained by the entrance, lying down and resting her chin on her paws to make herself smaller and less threatening to the public. She was already small for a wolf but still larger than the average dog. Rey was amused to find that whenever someone noticed Spennie, she only had to give her tail a wag and flash puppy-sweet eyes at them, and they _melted_.

There _was_ an incident where a trio of kids wouldn’t stop messing with her and Nix had to step in. Of course, because he was _Nix_ , he managed to piss their mother off so thoroughly that she complained to Rey and demanded he and his dog be thrown out.

Rey suggested Nix take Spennie for a walk, but he refused. In the end, Spennie disappeared outside, and the woman argued with Nix for a while longer until Rey sent him into the back to cool off. The woman proceeded to chew Rey out before Rey could help her find what she was there for.

Spennie came back when the sound of the woman’s car faded into the distance, and Nix bent Rey’s ear with his own irritation.

Spennie rolled her eyes behind his back, and Rey coughed to cover a laugh.

* * *

That was day one.

* * *

Rey spent her nights at home after the big meeting, moving out of Ben’s apartment and back into her nest. Every night, once she was home, Finn and Rose took over as her guards. It was their responsibility to make sure the house was secure and stay ready to respond to an emergency.

Rey was not allowed to go anywhere alone, but somehow it felt comfortable instead of suffocating. Maybe because her guards were mostly young, around her own age, or because she knew most of them well. It wasn’t just Nix and Spennie, though they took the bulk of her work hours. It was Yolo Ziff and San Tekka and Ronith Blario, all of the Wexleys, and Larma on her days off.

Only ever betas.

Kaydel and Korrie dropped by in the evening on Wednesday to talk about the new safety measures, how Rey’s popularity would affect them all, and what the hell to do with all the omegas they were expecting.

“We should make some separate plans for the omegas,” Kaydel suggested, taking her ponytail down and finger-combing her blonde hair into a new one. “Something for just us, no alphas.”

Rey grinned. “That would be amazing.”

Korrie pressed white teeth into her bottom lip. “I might have an idea.”

They spent the rest of the evening hammering out details.

* * *

“Just invite him over,” Rose said Thursday as Rey checked her phone for the fifth time and found no new messages. Her period was over, and she’d been debating whether to contact Ben.

There were new rules of conduct between them, now.

He couldn’t approach her without permission, permission she had to give to the people around her so they knew he was allowed.

Rey _could_ invite him over anytime, but she had to let her guards know, otherwise they would try to turn him away.

The only time he could ignore that rule was during emergency situations when he acted as pack leader, but even then he was supposed to leave her in the care of betas if at all possible.

Finn didn’t look away from the TV when he asked, “Invite who over?”

“Solo,” Rose said, cupping her chin in one hand and raising a brow at Rey.

“You mean the guy Rey is secretly in love with and not-so-secretly banging?”

Rey flushed to the roots of her hair. “I’m not… we’re not… it was _one time_! And… how did you even know?!” She hadn’t seen them _that_ soon after. Had she? And she’d bathed. The water from the pond had washed a lot of it away, and she’d showered after, and hadn’t the blood smell covered it up?

Finn cast her a sidelong glance. “Seriously?”

Rey groaned and buried her face in a throw pillow. If he’d been able to tell, everyone at the meeting would have. Christ.

Rose poked the bottom of Rey’s bare foot, making her twitch. “You lived with the guy for, like, a week. It’s not a reach to assume you miss him.”

Rey grumbled as she texted Ben, but it was more from embarrassment than reluctance. “Okay,” she said when it was done.

She jiggled her foot as she waited for his reply, only half paying attention to the TV. It took a few minutes, but finally her phone vibrated.

 **Ben:** Are your guards aware?

She sent back a _yes_ , and this time his reply was quicker.

 **Ben:** Thirty minutes.

It took him a bit longer than thirty minutes, and Rey was almost vibrating with nerves. Would her friends be able to tell everything that had happened between them? Everyone knew to ignore sex smells, it was only polite, but Rey had never done anything like this before, had never _wanted_ someone before. She never glanced twice at the smell of arousal on someone else, but now she felt… exposed.

Finn got the door, waving Rey down and muttering something about bodyguard duties. He peeked out and opened it wide, letting Ben through.

The room shrank a bit with him in it, the air feeling thinner in Rey’s lungs. She could smell alpha and soap as he kicked his shoes off into the shoe pile by the door.

Finn locked up and returned to his favorite chair, and Ben settled in beside Rey, not far but also not touching.

“Sorry for the delay,” he offered, low so as not to disturb their show. “I’d just finished with Poe and needed to shower.”

“How is he?”

Ben tossed an arm along the back of the couch, still not touching her but the space between them narrowed as he angled his body toward her. “Fine. We’re planning to introduce him to some of the betas on Monday, if there are no emergencies over the weekend.”

“What does that mean?” At his raised eyebrow, she clarified. “Introducing him to the betas. What does it mean for Poe?”

“First betas, then alphas. When he can handle all of that, we’ll expose him to you and Kaydel and Korrie. His control has to be rock solid before he can interact with humans again.”

“How long is that going to take?”

Ben grimaced. “A few months. Up to a year for the difficult cases, but Poe’s progressing well.”

Anxiety built in Rey’s chest. “I don’t know if they’ll hold his job for him that long.”

“It’s a possibility,” Ben agreed, sounding way too calm and matter-of-fact. “But Poe understands that he can’t be around humans until he’s safe. Not mauling anyone takes priority.”

Finn spoke up from his chair without looking away from the TV. “I can go on Monday if it’s after work. Poe seems pretty cool. Wouldn’t mind getting to know the guy better.”

Ben inclined his head Finn’s way. “That would be helpful, thank you.” He looked at Rey and started to open his mouth but glanced at her roommates and shut it again. He offered a wry smile and sat back to watch the TV.

He didn’t remove his arm from behind her head, and the heat from it touched her mating gland, causing it to throb and let off fresh pheromones. She felt him along her side as well, his warmth reaching out to her, and her entire side burned, her skin humming with anticipation.

She caught him looking at her a few times, but he didn’t look away, just held her gaze.

She was the one who kept looking away, cheeks flushed. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to straddle him. She wanted to do _everything_ to him.

Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up.

 **Rose:** Go on. We’ll turn the TV up.

Rey swallowed hard, the words _It’s not like that_ on the tip of her tongue, but then she looked at Ben and the words fell away.

It _was_ like that.

His pupils were blown, and he was watching her steadily. She could smell him, which meant her friends could, as well.

Ugh.

Fine.

She got up, walking to the hall and her bedroom door. When she glanced back, he had half-turned on the couch to keep her in sight.

A tilt of her head toward her room was all the invitation he needed.

* * *

“How’ve you been?” he asked softly, tucking his hands in his pockets and turning as she shut the door behind them and leaned against it. “I heard from Nix that things have been going well at work.” His eyes traced from her face to her body and back up, his posture carefully casual even as he swallowed.

“It's been fine,” she said, and she might have been surprised at the excess saliva in her mouth if she weren’t also trying not to think about licking him. “They've don't well. It's been…” She trailed off, distracted by his scent, by the shift of his hair over his glands as he nodded.

“Fine?” he offered, his voice deeper than it had been, chest rising visibly with his breath. He was staring at her, chin lowered.

Rey bit her lip and nodded, not sure what they were talking about anymore.

He swallowed again, and Rey didn’t know why he wasn’t touching her. Hadn’t he liked what they’d done the other day? Didn’t he want to do more of that? Didn’t—?

Another swallow, and Rey realized he wasn’t going to make the first move. Maybe because of the new rules, maybe to make sure she wanted it too, but he was going to stand there all night if she didn’t jump the moron.

So she did.

He caught her easily, her weight barely rocking him as she hopped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist, her mouth crashing against his for a desperate tangle of tongues before he broke away to suck at the glands on her neck.

Rey licked her lips and tilted her head to give him better access. She could feel how hard he was, pressing urgently against her through his jeans, and it made her shiver. She was drunk on his scent and his touch and the way he bit bruises into her neck before turning to lay her back on her bed. He drew down to nuzzle at her belly, her knees spreading wide as he knelt. “Let me eat you out,” he breathed, turning to practically rub his face against her thigh, spreading his scent all over her leggings.

He looked up at her, pupils swallowing the iris. “You don’t have to reciprocate. I just want to put my mouth on you.” He swallowed. Hesitated. “Please.”

The _please_ undid her, and she let her legs drop wider, giving him a dazed nod.

Ben tucked his fingers under the waistband of her leggings and panties, pulled them off, and discarded them onto the floor, the sound soft against the TV's background noise in the other room.

Slowly, he pressed her thighs wide, glancing at her face to check her reaction. Rey met his gaze, her lips parted as she struggled to breathe normally, and he must have liked what he saw — or what he smelled, her scent filling her nest with fresh arousal — because he used his fingers to spread her inner lips.

He stared.

Ducked forward.

Licked.

And _groaned_.

It came from his chest, that groan, and though his tongue was still on her, lapping full and soft against her cunt, the groan wasn't remotely muffled.

In the living room, she heard her roommates chuckle before they turned the TV up, and Ben shot her a sheepish look over the fuzz of her mons.

Her face went hot, and Rey _tried_ to look stern, but he ducked his head, brushed her clit with his tongue, and her thoughts became so much debris.

Ben licked in a way that seemed more for himself than for her, his eyes fluttering closed as he gently savored her. Rey loved the teasing feel of his tongue and the way his pheromones poured off of him, mixing with her comfort-scent here in her nest. Traces of him would linger for days, and she couldn’t find it in herself to mind.

She bucked against his face and gripped his hair, silently begging for more.

Ben let out a puff of air and his tongue firmed, moving in different ways with different pressures until he found one that made Rey bow upward, her hips lifting off the bed.

He grabbed her thighs tight and dove deeper, making her brain melt. Rey felt like she might go insane from his scent and his tongue and his hands and the pressure building within her. She thought about weeks ago when she'd touched herself here with his scent on her tongue, and she suddenly needed that again, needed to taste him.

Wasn’t it lucky, then, that she had the source right there between her legs.

Rey pushed his head away and slid to the floor to straddle him, so quick he still looked surprised and confused when she started tugging at the fastening of his pants.

Ben’s eyes went wide as she exposed him, his cheeks still flushed and mouth wet with her. “Rey,” he whispered dazedly, resisting when she tried to bend and put her mouth on him. “You don't have to do this.”

Rey quickly, feverishly, dipped a finger to his cock and swiped through his precome before tipping her head back to meet his eyes as she sucked her finger into her mouth.

They both gasped, and Rey's eyes fell closed, her back arching as slick surged to wet her thighs and dampen his jeans.

When she opened her eyes, she was almost surprised to see Ben, so wrapped up she'd been in his taste. His mouth gaped open, and he tracked her wet finger as it slid from her mouth before meeting her eyes again.

Rey whispered in his ear even as she gathered her slick on her hand and started jerking him off with it. “Come on my stomach and feed it to me while you eat me out.”

Ben's breath left him in an explosive rush, and then he knocked her arm away and threw her onto the bed, looming over her and swiping his hand through her slick to pick up where she’d left off.

He jerked it faster than she had, frenzied, his eyes flicking from her face to her breasts to her cunt, and Rey swiped a finger through her slick before offering it to him.

Ben wrapped his lips around it, eyes falling shut as he suckled, and then he let out a muffled grunt, body tensing just before he spurted long, thick threads of cum all over her, more and more, enough to pool and slide off her stomach to the bed below. His knot grew beneath his fist, and he squeezed it, his knuckles whitening with the pressure. He sucked in a short breath and dribbled more cum onto her.

In a trance, Rey traced her fingertips through the warm liquid on her skin and took them into her mouth as Ben released his knot and caught his breath.

Fresh slick dribbled out of her, and Rey suppressed a moan which turned into a soft whine when Ben bent to lap her slick up, his breath still coming fast from his orgasm.

It wasn't the texture or flavor of his spend — she could easily live the rest of her life without either — so much as the alpha pheromones lacing it. They were the same pheromones he let off when aroused, but more concentrated, and holding his cum on her tongue let her get the _full_ impact.

Rey squirmed, trying to get Ben’s tongue where she wanted it, but it wasn’t until he’d caught his breath enough to get into a rhythm that she felt two of his fingers scrape up a bit of his cum and press it into her mouth. She could see him watching her as she accepted it, her arousal pitching higher, and his eyes went dark. He dove into his work with fresh enthusiasm and continued to feed her as he found what he needed below.

Rey writhed. She sucked his fingers and jerked against his mouth and came with a cry that she tried to muffle with her arm, but he yanked her arm away and growled into her cunt.

The TV in the next room played on.

Ben gave her soft, final licks as she came down, taking his time until her heart steadied. Then, he crawled up her panting body, arranged them both properly on the bed, and kissed her, using his free hand to smear his cum across her skin and up to the scent glands on her neck. He hesitated at the back of her neck, and Rey nodded her permission. He let out a slow, deep sigh as he rubbed it across her mating gland, as if the act loosened something tense and tight in his chest.

It was odd, because she would have said a few weeks ago that something like that would make her feel defiled. Violated, even. But she felt calm and safe, basking in the afterglow as he massaged his spend into her skin and dropped slow kisses all over her face, his mouth and chin drenched with her.

They’d covered each other with the scent equivalent of a foghorn or a flashing neon sign: _We had sex._

Rey was… too satisfied to be nervous about it, but she knew she'd pay for indulging herself later. Currency: embarrassment.

Ben nuzzled her jaw, and Rey ran her fingers through his hair.

He rubbed his thumb idly over her breast and watched it pucker. Rey’s breath hitched when he plucked it. “I’ve wanted my tongue on you for ages.”

Rey couldn’t help a soft smile, though she threw in an eyeroll to show she thought he was ridiculous.

He looked happy. He _smelled_ happy. It did weird things to her insides, made affection bloom inside of her, and she leaned up to press her lips against his, chaste even as she lay covered in his cum, his knot pressing against her bare thigh.

When she released his mouth, he licked his bottom lip and plucked at her again. “Wish I could take you home.”

She only smiled, feeling oddly wistful.

* * *

He stayed the night, and Rey knelt in her decorative pillows in the floor to let him slide in from behind once his knot went down.

"I love your nest," he whispered as he snapped his hips against her ass, sending jolts of warmth up her spine. "Don't know if I told you that. It's perfect. Cozy. Just right for pups." He drew almost all the way out to shove hard back in, pinching her nipple until she squeaked. The moment he released it, endorphins rushed her body, making her tremble. She gasped and could taste their mingled scents thick in the air, the musk of horny alpha overlaying her richer notes of omega slick. Her head swam with it, his words feeding into her omega hindbrain in ways she didn't mind all that much.

“I want to put my pups in you,” he whispered harshly against her ear, his hips grinding into hers. “Fill you up. My perfect little omega.”

Rey arched back, pressing into him, but he kept her in place without much effort at all, dragging slow across her inner flesh on his next withdrawal.

He kept changing the pace, the angle, the force, making her want to whine for him, beg for harder, faster, rougher, but she had to keep biting her lip, cognizant of the ears beyond her door, the fact that the TV had yet to shut off.

" _Please_ ," she whispered back, barely a sound at all. Just a simple plea that suggested a hundred more.

_Please._

Please fuck her, fill her, keep talking, shut up, go faster, go slower, stop teasing and _do_ something.

She didn’t realize she’d dug her claws into his skin, trying to pull him closer, until he grunted with pain. She pulled her hand away, his blood on her fingertips as her claws buried into the pillows beneath her. She glanced back at him with a vague urge to apologize, but the urge left her when she saw him.

Sweat-dampened hair clung to his face, and his eyes glowed when they met hers. He was smiling. Grinning, even; he looked so damn happy as he wrapped an arm around her torso to hold her firm and push in slow. He let out a quiet breath and scraped his teeth across her shoulder.

“I’m yours,” he whispered against her ear, settling into a torturously slow drag. “I belong to you.” A hitch in his breath when he bottomed out. “I don’t know if I’ll ever not belong to you.”

It was too much. Too much. His words crashed against the the walls she’d put up in her heart, wiggling into the cracks and breaking around them to batter her instincts directly.

The orgasm that hit her was very confusing.

Powerful.

But confusing.

She arched her back and choked on all the noises she wanted to make. He helped by wrapping a hand around her mouth, and Rey fell apart only to stifle a scream at the new wave that crested as his knot took, filling her in every conceivable way.

“Take it,” he whispered, hand still over her mouth, his body covering hers. They were slick skin to slick skin, and she could _feel_ the liquid heat as he emptied into her. “Take my pups.”

The instincts that swirled through her amplified everything, dragging her pleasure out almost painfully.

When she finally came down, panting and slumping, Ben held her, arranged them both comfortably, and cuddled her from behind.

When she could think again, she said, “Pups?”

He blew out a breath that ruffled her hair and gave a low, sheepish laugh. “Sorry. It’s an alpha thing. The idea of…” He trailed off and cupped a hand over her abdomen, pressing closer and releasing more cum inside of her. “It’s instinct.”

She wiggled back into him, pressing her sticky, cooling skin to his. “Even if I took a mate, I wouldn’t be ready for pups for… a _while_.”

“Doesn’t make it less hot to imagine,” he said, nipping lazily at her ear. “Breeding is… a common alpha kink.”

“Common, huh?” she teased, glancing over her shoulder at him. She liked how thoroughly his arms wrapped around her. She petted the hair on his arms, watching her own fingers and noticing how her tanned skin looked darker than his. “So another alpha would also—”

“ _Stop_ ,” he said immediately, desperately, his voice strained. “Don't — don't say anything else. That’s an order.” The words didn't sound like an order, they sounded _afraid_.

Rey held her breath for a moment, paying attention to the way his breathing had gone unsteady and how he’d buried his face in her neck. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, a little frightened by his intensity, so she waited. As she did, she noticed fine tremors in the muscles of his arms where they gripped her.

Eventually, he raised his face from her, though his arms didn't loosen even a fraction. “Okay,” he breathed. “Okay. Quick tip: _never_ suggest you might be open to another alpha’s advances when one is _knotted inside of you_.” He shivered, and his knot throbbed. She heard him swallow and felt the heave of his chest as he breathed through the release of more cum. When the moment had passed, he continued. “My reaction to that… the instinct to mate you so no one else can touch you is… almost overpowering.” He dropped a tentative kiss on her hair. “It's dangerous. Okay?”

Rey nodded and placed both of her hands over his. “Okay. No pulling your tail while we’re locked together. Got it.”

“Thank you,” he breathed, running his tongue over her shoulder in a way she found soothing. Tongue-baths were better known as a cat thing, but wolves groomed each other, too, especially during courting. For werewolves, it translated into a kind of kissing, not unlike making out. It let partners scent each other, taste each other, and have skin-to-skin contact all at once. It could be used to reassure or arouse, depending on the situation, and was reserved for sexual partners.

Rey tipped her face toward Ben's, and their lips met, tender in a way that made his cock locked inside her feel even more intimate.

She wondered, as he started to grind his hips into hers, pressing his knot deeper, what it might be like to drive him wild with jealousy. If she could tease him into taking her like an animal, pressing her down and just _ravishing_ …

She shuddered with it, squeezing around him, and she knew that if she weren’t already stuffed full of Ben she’d feel the drip of fresh slick.

The moment his knot deflated enough to slip out, he scooped two fingerfuls of their combined cum out of her and pressed it to her lips, watching her with an almost manic intensity as she swallowed it.

He fed her more… and more, until her mouth was painted with it and her cunt throbbed with need.

Only then did he plunge back inside, forgoing all the playful teasing from earlier. He was a man on a mission, and Rey had just enough brainpower to understand that she'd triggered this by talking about other alphas while he'd been knot-deep inside her.

He gripped her hair and rutted, punching little noises out of her that he didn't try to stifle and she couldn't keep in.

If anything, he went at her harder, seeking those little noises out, determination gripping him in a frenzy. No words passed between them, Rey too drunk on the feel of his claws scraping lightly at her skin as he flipped her over, shoved her into position, and slammed home on a low groan.

He held her hips as he pounded into her, and she could smell her own blood on the air, the pinpricks of pain anchoring her in the moment.

She arched into his brutal pace, begging him with her body for more, and he gave it to her. He gave her everything, squeezed her throat when she guided his hand to it, squeezed until her larynx protested and she got lightheaded with it; and, when his knot formed this time, she couldn't hold back a long, low, animalistic cry as she came.

He rubbed at her clit, refusing to let her slump into the pillows, forcing her to take the pleasure, take his grinding knot and fingers slippery with slick and blood and cum tracing light circles until stars exploded behind her eyes and she sobbed through a second orgasm as life-altering as the first.

 _Then_ he settled them into the pillows.

But he kept gently playing with her, sometimes tweaking her nipples with his free hand, sometimes squeezing her throat, and always touching around her clit. Every now and then, he would flick or squeeze it, murmur something about wanting to get his mouth back on her, then go back to his relentless playing.

She came… _so much_. She lost count as the night wore on, as the TV shut off and her roommates got ready for bed, as the oscillating fan flicked on in Finn’s room with a brief metallic whine that hurt sensitive ears, as the bathroom door opened and closed, footsteps in the hallway and Rose’s white noise machine switching on low. She heard the creak of mattress springs as they settled into their beds, and eventually the house went quiet but for the soft wet squelches and gasps Ben wrung from Rey.

He _did_ get his mouth back on her. Then he fucked her twice more with gradually lessening intensity, like the jealousy in his system had simply needed to be fucked out.

And she _loved_ it. She was exhausted by the end, but the experience had been… transcendent. It was a crime, really, that making him jealous was so dangerous. If it weren't, she'd go out of her way to do it. Regularly. Daily, even. _Hourly._

An idle thought occurred to her as they lay in her ruined throw pillows, knotted together and starting to drift off. “You’re not into fucking as wolves, are you?”

He blinked and shook limp, sweaty hair out of his face before he tilted his head in thought, lifting onto one elbow so he could look down at her. “Are you?” Rey shook her head, and he nodded. “Then no, I’m not.”

She thought about that as he ran his nose along her jaw. “So you would be if I was?”

He chuckled, and Rey reached to pull her alpaca fur blanket down to cover them both. “I don’t think you understand how far I’d go to make you happy,” he said, helping her position the blanket properly. “The things I’d be willing to do.”

It should frighten her, but her omega insisted that was the way it should be. _Alpha takes care of us._

* * *

She woke only long enough to feel the gush of fluids as he softened enough to leave her body, then again when he urged her to drink some water.

The third time she woke was to her alarm, and she groaned and tried to roll over only to be stopped by the heavy arm across her waist.

The night came back to her in a rush, and Rey couldn't quite regret staying up so late on a work night, despite her pounding head and the smell of sex drenching her so heavily she was sure even humans would be able to smell it.

Ben grumbled lightly as she wiggled away to find her phone and silence it. In a house full of werewolves, letting an alarm go off too long or too often was grounds for evisceration.

She stumbled into her shower, and two minutes in she heard someone else moving around. The clink of porcelain led to the hiss of a steady stream, suggesting Ben had also hydrated after bullying her into it.

He crowded into the shower, then, wrapping his arms around her from behind and dropping his head to her shoulder. She gave him a sleepy elbow to the stomach for his trouble, but he only grunted and reached past her for the soap, his eyes half-closed and crusted with sleep.

“You have work, too?” she mumbled, and he nodded.

“Scheduled to fill in today.” He yawned, and Rey rinsed her hair. She’d already cleaned her body, but Ben didn’t seem too put out about it. Probably because she still had his scent inside of her, where humans couldn't smell it but wolves could.

She sucked him off before they got out but couldn't swallow it all, and he called her a messy eater as he caught a dribble on his thumb and held it up for her to lick clean.

Rey smelled a little like slick as she toweled off, and Ben tossed her a sleepy smirk.

No time for _that_ , she reminded herself, turning from him and going to her room to dig out fresh clothes.

When she left her room, a cheerful yellow post-it fluttered on her door, Rose's handwriting asking that Rey start the coffee and knock on Rose's door if she wasn't up soon.

The passive aggressive "SOMEONE kept us up late" was tempered by a winky face.

Rey dragged herself through the motions of making coffee and grabbing a piece of toast. By the time it popped out of the toaster, Ben had joined her in the kitchen, dressed in his clothes from yesterday and pressing sleepily against her back as she spread jam on her toast. His hair was wet from the shower, ears poking out in a manner she found adorable, and he dropped a kiss into the crook of her neck. Lingered there. Maybe he was considering renewing some of the marks he'd left there last night, even though they'd only fade after a minute or two.

But whatever he was thinking (and it was just as likely to be _Rey is comfy, I wonder if she'd be mad if I fell asleep on her right now_ ), Finn picked that moment to exit his room, wave vaguely at them, and enter the shared bathroom.

"Toast?" Rey mumbled, waving the jam knife in what she hoped was a friendly manner.

Ben shook his head and pressed more of his weight onto her. "I'll pick something up on my way in."

Rey elbowed him so she could go to the cabinets and pull out Finn's favorite cereal. She filled a bowl, got the milk from the fridge, and set it by the bowl in time for Finn to exit the bathroom, open the cupboard, and look confused until he saw the bowl on the table.

He grunted his thanks and sat, pouring milk with a jaw-cracking yawn. He stared sleepily at the bowl for a few seconds, and Rey pulled a spoon out and handed it to him.

"Thaaank you," he mumbled, and not grumpy was as cheerful as he got in the mornings, so Rey considered the interaction a win.

Rose stumbled out of her room and straight to the coffee pot, an old thing that Rey had found and repaired but that was ridiculously slow at brewing.

"I hate this thing," Rose muttered, glaring at it as if that would make it brew faster.

"Poor Winston," Rey murmured, petting the water intake. "She doesn't mean it."

Ben snorted softly. "You named your coffee pot?"

"Winston McBubbler the Fourth," she informed him with as much dignity as she could scrape together so early in the morning (not much).

He raised an amused brow at her. "The fourth?"

"Rey assumes he comes from a long and storied line," Rose said, pulling out a packet of instant oatmeal and snagging the milk from Finn.

Finn watched Rose steal the milk and dragged his spoon through his cereal. "He's the bastard son of a toaster, if you ask me."

Rey placed a hand over her heart. It was an old enough joke that she didn't need a functioning brain to play along. "Scandalous lies! He's a lost prince gathering allies to retake his home." She cast an earnest glance Ben's way. "He's almost won over Lady Fridgemore, with whose help he'll finally get the lesser appliances on board. It's all politics, really."

Ben smiled with his eyes, watching her, and then glanced at the coffeemaker. "No offense to his highness, but would you like me to get you a new one?"

"Yes," said Rose immediately, looking at him like he was some sort of coffee savior.

Ben's lips quirked at Rose, but he looked at Rey before finishing his thought. "As a courting gift."

"Yes," Rose repeated, getting her Snoopy mug out and setting it by the machine. "One of those you can program the night before so the coffee is fresh and hot and wakes you up with its smell like one of those cheesy coffee commercials—"

Rey bit her lip, hesitant. "Aren't those a bit expensive?"

"I've been negligent in my gifting."

Rey rolled her eyes. "A coffeemaker isn't going to put you _more_ ahead of the curve."

Rose flapped a dismissive hand at Rey. "Don't listen to her. You have my word that if you get us a decent coffee machine, I will _personally_ be your cheerleader. I won't even complain about how loud you two are."

Ben raised his brows at that, and Rey blushed and glanced at Finn, who saw her looking and nodded solemnly.

“Learned some things I did _not_ want to know.”

Rey flicked a nervous glance at Ben, who had the gall to look pleased, the bastard.

Then, with a twinkle in his eye but an otherwise straight face, Ben said, "But we didn't even get to the pegging."

Finn turned his head fully to stare at the alpha. "You better be fucking joking."

Ben shrugged, obnoxiously nonchalant. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Finn made a face and ate his last bite of cereal, getting up to put his bowl in the sink. Ben tossed Rey a conspiratorial smirk behind her friend's back, and she covered a laugh with her hand.

"He's messing with you," Rose said

"Not before my coffee," Finn moaned. "There is to be no messing before coffee."

“Sorry for being loud,” Rey said, her cheeks feeling less hot but her stomach still tense with embarrassment.

Rose pulled her oatmeal out of the microwave before it could ding and stirred it. "Don't apologize. We're glad you're happy."

Finn grunted his agreement and grabbed his Hogwarts mug out of the cabinet.

"We'll just be _more_ glad once we have coffee in us."

Finn offered Rose a fist bump of solidarity, and Winston McBubbler the Fourth chose that moment to click into warming mode, the percolation part of his job done. Finn stood closest, so he reached over and flicked Winston off, scooting out of Rose's way as she bustled over and filled her Snoopy mug.

Ben was watching it all with an amused little smile, and he winked when he saw Rey looking.

 _Pegging?_ she mouthed at him, but he didn’t have the decency to look ashamed, just grinned at her, the bastard.

Rose moved away from Winston, sipping at her mug and sighing with pleasure. Like with alcohol, werewolves needed excessive amounts of caffeine for it to really be effective, but it helped wake them up. Rey thought it was probably as much a mental thing as a physical one.

Rey poured a mug of coffee after Finn got his, and Ben looked surprised when she pushed it into his hands. He sipped at it and watched her over the rim as she got her own, tracking her movements with dark eyes.

Rey’s phone buzzed in her room, and they all turned their heads toward it reflexively, the motion distinctly canid.

If they’d been in wolf form, their ears would be perked.

The others dismissed the noise almost immediately, but Rey considered it for a few seconds more.

Probably Nix letting her know he and Spennie were on their way.

Rey dumped a bunch of milk into her coffee to cool it off and drank it as she went to fetch her phone and bag from her room. It was half-gone by the time she came back out, and she downed the rest in a few gulps.

Ben raised amused brows at her, and she shrugged. She didn’t drink coffee for the taste.

When her ride got there, she set her empty mug aside and let Ben walk her to Nix’s van. Ben pulled his keys out of his pocket, kissed her cheek, and shut the van door behind her.

Aside from the knowing brow Nix raised at her in the rearview mirror, nobody said anything about it.


End file.
